Cell fusion theory for explaining metastasis origin has been hypothesised for almost one-hundred years, mainly availed with data coming from patients who received a bone marrow transplant and all had tumour cells with DNA from their cancer-free donors. In fact, colonisation of distant organs by an original tumour could be explained with the acquisition of hallmarks from both immune and tumour parents. Here, we systematically conducted in vitro fusions between CD14+human monocytes and GFP+H60 lung tumour cells. Transcriptome analysis of nave monocytes, and sorted GFP+, CD14+ and CD14+GFP+ cells showed the latter sharing common pathways with both parental types, which sustain their in vivo metastatic characteristics, such as mobility and invasiveness. Altogether, our data demonstrates that differentially genes profile acquisition by hybrids enables them to drive metastasis. SOURCE: Leon,Nicolas,Schulte (leon.schulte@uni-marburg.de) - Schulte Philipps-Universität Marburg

Pluto Bioinformatics

GSE102512: Transcriptome profiling of in vitro cellular entities involved in lung tumour fusion events