Research progress of cell fusion taking place in tumor microenvironment

Abstract

Cell fusion is the basis for development and physiology of most life forms. Receiving little attention in modern molecular oncology, the effect of cell fusion on tumor progression has not been fully researched. When fused with normal somatic cells, tumor cells can rapidly acquire more malignant phenotypes than their parental cells, such as higher proliferation rates, increased invasiveness or metastasis as well as resistance to chemotherapy. Thus, cell fusion clearly appears to be more efficient than accumulation of genetic alterations. Although the chance that cell fusion takes place between tumor cells and normal cells is much lower than estimated, the contribution of cell fusion to phenotypic diversification should not be ignored in consideration of the huge amount and malignant proliferation of tumor cells. In this review, we briefly demonstrate the research progress in cell fusion occurring in tumor microenvironment. Key words: Cell fusion; Tumor microenvironment; Chromosome; Cancer stem cell