Cell Fusion as a Cause of Prostate Cancer Metastases
Abstract
The main goal of the study funded by this grant was to test a hypothesis that cell fusion between tumor cells, or between tumor and normal cells, contributes to metastasis. This hypothesis suggests that cell fusion contributes to carcinogenesis through two mechanisms: by generating cells with diverse genetic and epigenetic properties and by providing tumor cells with qualities of normal cells that are required to travel throughout the body while remaining alive. This hypothesis can explain why tumor cells can grow at distant sites, why they express proteins that are normally expressed by cells of the metastasized tissue, and why only a minute fraction of cells released by primary tumors form metastases. The proposed research was designed to explain gene transfer between two lines of human prostate cancer cells PC3 in vivo and to determine whether this gene transfer is mediated by cell fusion and whether cell fusion affects metastatic potential of these cells. We found that gene transfer was mediated by a xenotropic mouse virus and developed approaches to generate cell hybrids for testing their metastic potential.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA562123
Entities
People
- Yuri Lazebnik
Organizations
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory