Tumour Cell Size Control and Its Impact on Tumour Cell Function

Abstract

Cell size is an important component of cell morphological characteristics. It reflects the characteristics of the cell type, nutritional status, growth stage and physiological function. The cell size of cells of the same type tends to be homogeneous and stable. However, in tumour cells, mutations in cell cycle genes and cytoskeletal genes and overexpression of the corresponding signalling pathways often lead to large variations in tumour cell size. Tumour cells regulate cell size and growth and proliferation through multiple signalling pathways, such as PI3K/Akt/mTOR, Myc and Hippo pathways, which work together to regulate cell size and proliferation. This allows tumour cells to adapt to different survival environments. Alterations in cell size also cause tumours to perform different functions, leading to alterations in tumour stemness, invasive migration and anti-tumour immunity by affecting immune cells in the tumour immune microenvironment. In this review, we describe the endogenous and exogenous factors affecting tumour cell size, analyse the mechanisms by which tumour cells regulate cell size and the effects of cell size on tumour malignancy and tumour immunity, summarise the potential therapeutic targets for cell size, and look forward to possible future research directions and clinical applications.