Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39506368›Full record

ReviewBioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology2025

Cell-cell fusion: To lose one life and begin another.

Jarred M Whitlock, Leonid V Chernomordik

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Epithelial cell fusion is required for tissue repair following UV-A irradiation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  2. Biophysical Considerations in Cell Fusion.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026
    Review
  3. Cell fusion in osteoclastogenesis.Biochemical Society transactions · 2025
    Review
  4. Cell-cell fusion: To lose one life and begin another.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2025
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Jarred M WhitlockDepartment of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
Leonid V ChernomordikSection on Membrane Biology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7131-9244

Funding

Protein-mediated membrane remodelingZIAHD001501 · NICHD · EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT · PI CHERNOMORDIK, LEONID V. · 2009 to 2025
$30.7M
Resolving the mechanism of osteoclast multinucleation and signaling in bone remodelingR00HD110609 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA · PI WHITLOCK, JARRED MARCUS · 2024 to 2025
$498k
Intramural NIH HHS ZIA HD001501NICHD NIH HHS R00 HD110609
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

As life extended into eukaryota, a great host of strategies emerged in the pursuit of cellular life. Some cells have been successful in solitude, some moved into cooperatives (i.e., multicellular organisms), but one additional strategy emerged. Throughout eukaryotes, many of the diverse multicellular cooperatives took life in partnership one step further. These cells came together and lost their singularity in the expanse of syncytial life. Recently in our search for this elusive "how", we discovered the intriguing peculiarity of a nuclear, RNA-binding protein living a second life as a fusion manager at the surface of developing osteoclasts, ushering them into syncytia 1. It is from here that we will develop several thoughts about the advantages of multinucleated cells and discuss how these fusing cells pass through several hallmarks of cell death. We will propose that cell fusion shares much with cell death because cell fusion is a death of sorts for the cells that undergo it - a death of the life that was and the beginning of new life in a community without borders.

Indexed as

Cell FusionAnimalsCell DeathGiant CellsHumansOsteoclastsRNA-Binding ProteinsRNA-Binding Proteinsapoptosiscell‐cell fusionmembrane fusionmyoblastosteoclastsyncytia

Identifiers

PMID39506368
PMCPMC11755699

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.