Cell-cell fusion as an important mechanism of tumor metastasis (review)

Abstract

Cell-cell fusion is a dynamic biological phenomenon, which plays an important role in various physiological processes, such as tissue regeneration. Similarly, normal cells, particularly bone marrow-derived cells (BMDCs), may attempt to fuse with cancer cells to rescue them. The rescue may fail, but the fused cells end up gaining the motility traits of BMDCs and become metastatic due to the resulting genomic instability. In fact, cell-cell fusion was demonstrated to occur in vivo in cancer and was revealed to promote tumor metastasis. However, its existence and role may be underestimated, and has not been widely acknowledged. In the present review, the milestones in cell fusion research were highlighted, the evidence for cell-cell fusion in vitro and in vivo in cancer was evaluated, and the current understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which cell-cell fusion occurs was summarized, to emphasize their important role in tumor metastasis. The summary provided in the present review may promote further study into this process and result in novel discoveries of strategies for future treatment of tumor metastasis.