期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2009
卷号：106
期号：23
页码：9385-9390
DOI：10.1073/pnas.0900108106
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Cell fusion is involved in many critical developmental processes, including zygote formation and organogenesis of placenta, bone, and skeletal muscle. In adult tissues, cell fusion has been shown to play an active role in tissue regeneration and repair, and its frequency of occurrence is significantly increased during chronic inflammation. Fusion between tumor cells and normal cells, or among tumor cells themselves, has also been speculated to contribute to tumor initiation, as well as phenotypic evolution during cancer progression and metastasis. Here, we show that dual metastasis organotropisms can be acquired in the same cell through in vitro or in vivo spontaneous fusion between bone- and lung-tropic sublines of the MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cell line. The synkaryonic hybrids assimilate organ-specific metastasis gene signatures from both parental cells and are genetically and phenotypically stable. Our study suggests cell fusion as an efficient means of phenotypic evolution during tumor progression and additionally demonstrates the compatibility of different metastasis organotropisms.
