ReviewFrontiers in immunology2025
Cell fusion as a driver of metastasis: re-evaluating an old hypothesis in the age of cancer heterogeneity.
Review in Frontiers in immunology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Zeb1 Is a Determinant of EMT in Human MDA-MB-231 Breast Cancer Cells and M13-MDA231 Tumor Hybrids.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- A Circulating Signature of Tumour Hybrid Cells and Immune Checkpoints Predicts Metastatic Progression in Lung Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Cell-Cell Fusion as a Mechanism of Immune Evasion and Metastatic Progression.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- A Brief Introduction into the Biological Phenomenon of Cell-Cell Fusion.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Polyploidy and Senescence of Cancer Cells: Impact of Cell Fusion.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Progress in targeted therapy for prostate cancer via cell surface proteins (Review).Biomedical reports · 2026Review
- Implications of Heterotypic Cell Fusion in Cancer.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Phenotyping and clinical utility of phagocytic polyploid giant cancer macrophages in blood.Cancer letters · 2025Article
- Differential effects of minocycline on human breast epithelial cells, human breast cancer cells and their tumor hybrids.Molecular biology reports · 2025Article
- The Warburg hypothesis and the emergence of the mitochondrial metabolic theory of cancer.Journal of bioenergetics and biomembranes · 2025Review
- Review
- The tumor microenvironment: adding pieces to the puzzle.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Macrophage Polarization in Myocardial Ischemia‒Reperfusion Injury: Pathophysiology and Therapeutic Targets.Drug design, development and therapy · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Numerous studies have investigated the molecular mechanisms and signalling pathways underlying cancer metastasis, as there is still no effective treatment for this terminal stage of the disease. However, the exact processes that enable primary cancer cells to acquire a metastatic phenotype remain unclear. Increasing attention has been focused on the fusion of cancer cells with myeloid cells, a phenomenon that may result in hybrid cells, so-called Tumour Hybrid Cells (THCs), with enhanced migratory, angiogenic, immune evasion, colonisation, and metastatic properties. This process has been shown to potentially drive tumour progression, drug resistance, and cancer recurrence. In this review, we explore the potential mechanisms that govern cancer cell fusion, the molecular mediators involved, the metastatic characteristics acquired by fusion-derived hybrids, and their clinical significance in human cancer. Additionally, we discuss emerging pharmacological strategies aimed at targeting fusogenic molecules as a means to prevent metastatic dissemination.
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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.