ArticleInternational journal of molecular sciences2016
Melanoma Cells Can Adopt the Phenotype of Stromal Fibroblasts and Macrophages by Spontaneous Cell Fusion in Vitro.
Article in International journal of molecular sciences, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- The influence of cell-cell fusion on cancer heterogeneity and its promise for targeted treatments.Cellular oncology (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2026Review
- Intrinsic signalling factors associated with cancer cell-cell fusion.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2023Review
- Fusion Cell Markers in Circulating Tumor Cells from Patients with High-Grade Ovarian Serous Carcinoma.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Hybrid/Atypical Forms of Circulating Tumor Cells: Current State of the Art.Biochemistry. Biokhimiia · 2022Review
- Identification of Atypical Circulating Tumor Cells with Prognostic Value in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients.Cancers · 2022Article
- Review
- Review
- Stress-Induced Polyploid Giant Cancer Cells: Unique Way of Formation and Non-Negligible Characteristics.Frontiers in oncology · 2021Review
- High salt diet impairs dermal tissue remodeling in a mouse model of IMQ induced dermatitis.PloS one · 2021Article
- Cell Fusion of Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells and Breast Cancer Cells Leads to the Formation of Hybrid Cells Exhibiting Diverse and Individual (Stem Cell) Characteristics.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Article
- Review
- Tumor-Cell-Macrophage Fusion Cells as Liquid Biomarkers and Tumor Enhancers in Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- Recent Advances in Studies of Skin Color and Skin Cancer.The Yale journal of biology and medicine · 2020Review
- Cyclooxygenase-2 Modulates Glycosaminoglycan Production in the Skin During Salt Overload.Frontiers in physiology · 2020Article
- Fusion-mediated chromosomal instability promotes aneuploidy patterns that resemble human tumors.Oncogene · 2019Article
- Review
- Review
- Review
- Tumor Microenvironment and Cell Fusion.BioMed research international · 2019Review
- The Fate of Fusions.Cells · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
After the removal of primary cutaneous melanoma some patients develop local recurrences, even after having histologically tumor-free re-excision. A potential explanation behind this phenomenon is that tumor cells switch their phenotype, making their recognition via standard histopathological assessments extremely difficult. Tumor-stromal cell fusion has been proposed as a potential mechanism for tumor cells to acquire mesenchymal traits; therefore, we hypothesized that melanoma cells could acquire fibroblast- and macrophage-like phenotypes via cell fusion. We show that melanoma cells spontaneously fuse with human dermal fibroblasts and human peripheral blood monocytes in vitro. The hybrid cells' nuclei contain chromosomes from both parental cells and are indistinguishable from the parental fibroblasts or macrophages based on their morphology and immunophenotype, as they could lose the melanoma specific MART1 marker, but express the fibroblast marker smooth muscle actin or the macrophage marker CD68. Our results suggest that, by spontaneous cell fusion in vitro, tumor cells can adopt the morphology and immunophenotype of stromal cells while still carrying oncogenic, tumor-derived genetic information. Therefore, melanoma-stromal cell fusion might play a role in missing tumor cells by routine histopathological assessments.
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Registered trials
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