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Cell fusion in the liver, revisited

There is wide agreement that cell fusion is a physiological process in cells in mammalian bone, muscle and placenta. In other organs, such as the cerebellum, cell fusion is controversial. The liver contains a considerable number of polyploid cells: They are commonly believed to originate by genome e...

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Autores principales: Lizier, Michela, Castelli, Alessandra, Montagna, Cristina, Lucchini, Franco, Vezzoni, Paolo, Faggioli, Francesca
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Baishideng Publishing Group Inc 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5838440/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29527257
http://dx.doi.org/10.4254/wjh.v10.i2.213
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author Lizier, Michela
Castelli, Alessandra
Montagna, Cristina
Lucchini, Franco
Vezzoni, Paolo
Faggioli, Francesca
author_facet Lizier, Michela
Castelli, Alessandra
Montagna, Cristina
Lucchini, Franco
Vezzoni, Paolo
Faggioli, Francesca
author_sort Lizier, Michela
collection PubMed
description There is wide agreement that cell fusion is a physiological process in cells in mammalian bone, muscle and placenta. In other organs, such as the cerebellum, cell fusion is controversial. The liver contains a considerable number of polyploid cells: They are commonly believed to originate by genome endoreplication, although the contribution of cell fusion to polyploidization has not been excluded. Here, we address the topic of cell fusion in the liver from a historical point of view. We discuss experimental evidence clearly supporting the hypothesis that cell fusion occurs in the liver, specifically when bone marrow cells were injected into mice and shown to rescue genetic hepatic degenerative defects. Those experiments-carried out in the latter half of the last century-were initially interpreted to show “transdifferentiation”, but are now believed to demonstrate fusion between donor macrophages and host hepatocytes, raising the possibility that physiologically polyploid cells, such as hepatocytes, could originate, at least partially, through homotypic cell fusion. In support of the homotypic cell fusion hypothesis, we present new data generated using a chimera-based model, a much simpler model than those previously used. Cell fusion as a road to polyploidization in the liver has not been extensively investigated, and its contribution to a variety of conditions, such as viral infections, carcinogenesis and aging, remains unclear.
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spelling pubmed-58384402018-03-09 Cell fusion in the liver, revisited Lizier, Michela Castelli, Alessandra Montagna, Cristina Lucchini, Franco Vezzoni, Paolo Faggioli, Francesca World J Hepatol Review There is wide agreement that cell fusion is a physiological process in cells in mammalian bone, muscle and placenta. In other organs, such as the cerebellum, cell fusion is controversial. The liver contains a considerable number of polyploid cells: They are commonly believed to originate by genome endoreplication, although the contribution of cell fusion to polyploidization has not been excluded. Here, we address the topic of cell fusion in the liver from a historical point of view. We discuss experimental evidence clearly supporting the hypothesis that cell fusion occurs in the liver, specifically when bone marrow cells were injected into mice and shown to rescue genetic hepatic degenerative defects. Those experiments-carried out in the latter half of the last century-were initially interpreted to show “transdifferentiation”, but are now believed to demonstrate fusion between donor macrophages and host hepatocytes, raising the possibility that physiologically polyploid cells, such as hepatocytes, could originate, at least partially, through homotypic cell fusion. In support of the homotypic cell fusion hypothesis, we present new data generated using a chimera-based model, a much simpler model than those previously used. Cell fusion as a road to polyploidization in the liver has not been extensively investigated, and its contribution to a variety of conditions, such as viral infections, carcinogenesis and aging, remains unclear. Baishideng Publishing Group Inc 2018-02-27 2018-02-27 /pmc/articles/PMC5838440/ /pubmed/29527257 http://dx.doi.org/10.4254/wjh.v10.i2.213 Text en ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial.
spellingShingle Review
Lizier, Michela
Castelli, Alessandra
Montagna, Cristina
Lucchini, Franco
Vezzoni, Paolo
Faggioli, Francesca
Cell fusion in the liver, revisited
title Cell fusion in the liver, revisited
title_full Cell fusion in the liver, revisited
title_fullStr Cell fusion in the liver, revisited
title_full_unstemmed Cell fusion in the liver, revisited
title_short Cell fusion in the liver, revisited
title_sort cell fusion in the liver, revisited
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5838440/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29527257
http://dx.doi.org/10.4254/wjh.v10.i2.213
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