Delineating the Hepatocyte's Hematopoietic Fusion Partner

Cell fusion has evolved as an explanation of how transplanted bone marrow cells adopt the phenotype of hepatocytes, Purkinje neurons, skeletal and cardiac muscle cells. In vivo nuclear transfer associated with cell fusion has direct implications for regenerative medicine, but the spontaneous frequency of cell fusion is well below the threshold of therapeutic significance. Increased efficiency could be achieved by utilizing cellular factors known to govern fusion but for this the identity of the hematopoietic cell that fuses with the host cell must be known. Using increasingly lineage-restricted donor bone marrow cell populations we have shown in mouse liver that fusion occurs between host hepatocytes and transplanted myelomonocytic cells such as macrophages. Now it should be feasible to increase the efficiency and assess the potential of cell fusion for the correction of a broad range of somatic cell types that can be targeted by fusion.     

Cell fusion and plasticity

Cell plasticity is a central issue in stem cell biology. In many recent discussions, observation of cell fusion has been seen as a confounding factor which calls into question published results concerning cell plasticity of, particularly, adult stem cells. An examination of the voluminous literature of "somatic cell fusion" suggests the relatively frequent occurrence of "spontaneous" cell fusion and shows that the complicated cellular phenotypes which it can give rise to have long been recognized. Here, a brief overview of this field is presented, with emphasis on studies of special relevance to current work on cell plasticity. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Application of stem cells in cardiology: where we are and where we are going

Heart disease including myocardial infarction and ischemia is associated with the irreversible loss of cardiomyocytes and vasculature, both via apoptosis or necrosis. However, the native capacity for the renewal and repair of myocardial tissue is inadequate as have been current therapeutic measures to prevent left ventricular remodeling. Cell transplantation has emerged as a potentially viable therapeutic approach to directly repopulate and repair the damaged myocardium. A detailed analysis and a vision for future progress in stem cell applications, both in research and clinical cardiology are presented in this review, highlighting the use of a wide spectrum of stem/progenitor cell types including embryonic or fetal stem cells, myoblasts, and adult bone marrow stem cells. An up-to-date comparison of donor cell-types used, and evaluation of the myocardial disorders that might be most amenable to stem cell therapy are discussed. The roles that myocardial cell fusion and transdifferentiation play in stem cell transplantation, the specific shortcomings of available technologies, and recommendations for practical ways that these concerns might be overcome, are also presented.     

Cell‐fusion‐mediated somatic‐cell reprogramming: A mechanism for tissue regeneration

Spontaneous cell fusion between two cells of different lineages will originate new hybrid cells that have different features from the original parent cells. It has been shown that injury to a tissue can enhance spontaneous cell–cell fusion events. If one of the parent cells of a cell–cell fusion is highly plastic, such as a stem cell, and the other is a somatic cell, their fusion can be followed by reprogramming events that can generate new hybrid pluripotent cells. These, in turn, have the potential to differentiate and regenerate the damaged tissue. However, if this process is deregulated, this would provide a mechanism for cancer development. J. Cell. Physiol. 223: 6–13, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Cdc42p and Fus2p act together late in yeast cell fusion

Cell fusion is the key event of fertilization that gives rise to the diploid zygote and is a nearly universal aspect of eukaryotic biology. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, several mutants have been identified that are defective for cell fusion, and yet the molecular mechanism of this process remains obscure. One obstacle has been that genetic screens have mainly focused on mating-specific factors, whereas the process likely involves housekeeping proteins as well. Here we implicate Cdc42p, an essential protein with roles in multiple aspects of morphogenesis, as a core component of the yeast cell fusion pathway. We identify a point mutant in the Rho-insert domain of CDC42, called cdc42-138, which is specifically defective in cell fusion. The cell fusion defect is not a secondary consequence of ineffective signaling or polarization. Genetic and morphological data show that Cdc42p acts at a late stage in cell fusion in concert with a key cell fusion regulator, Fus2p, which contains a Dbl-homology domain. We find that Fus2p binds specifically with activated Cdc42p, and binding is blocked by the cdc42-138 mutation. Thus, in addition to signaling and morphogenetic roles in mating, Cdc42p plays a role late in cell fusion via activation of Fus2p.     

Stem Cell Therapy: A New Therapeutic Option for Cardiovascular Diseases

Cardiovascular diseases are known as one of major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite the many advancement in therapies are associated with cardiovascular diseases, it seems that finding of new therapeutic option is necessary. Cell therapy is one of attractive therapeutic platforms for treatment of a variety of diseases such as cardiovascular diseases. Among of various types of cell therapy, stem cell therapy has been emerged as an effective therapeutic approach in this area. Stem cells divided into multipotent stem cells and pluripotent stem cells. A large number studies indicated that utilization of each of them are associated with a variety of advantages and disadvantages. Multiple lines evidence indicated that stem cell therapy could be used as suitable therapeutic approach for treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Many clinical trials have been performed for assessing efficiency of stem cell therapies in human. However, stem cell therapy are associated with some challenges, but, it seems resolving of them could contribute to using of them as effective therapeutic approach for patients who suffering from cardiovascular diseases. In the current review, we summarized current therapeutic strategies based on stem cells for cardiovascular diseases. J. Cell. Biochem. 119: 95–104, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Problem of Colliding Networks and its Relation to Cell Fusion and?Cancer

Cell fusion, a process that merges two or more cells into one, is required for normal development and has been explored as a tool for stem cell therapy. It has also been proposed that cell fusion causes cancer and contributes to its progression. These functions rely on a poorly understood ability of cell fusion to create new cell types. We suggest that this ability can be understood by considering cells as attractor networks whose basic property is to adopt a set of distinct, stable, self-maintaining states called attractors. According to this view, fusion of two cell types is a collision of two networks that have adopted distinct attractors. To learn how these networks reach a consensus, we model cell fusion computationally. To do so, we simulate patterns of gene activities using a formalism developed to simulate patterns of memory in neural networks. We find that the hybrid networks can assume attractors that are unrelated to parental attractors, implying that cell fusion can create new cell types by nearly instantaneously moving cells between attractors. We also show that hybrid networks are prone to assume spurious attractors, which are emergent and sporadic network states. This finding means that cell fusion can produce abnormal cell types, including cancerous types, by placing cells into normally inaccessible spurious states. Finally, we suggest that the problem of colliding networks has general significance in many processes represented by attractor networks, including biological, social, and political phenomena.     

Regulation of progenitor cell fusion by ABCB5 P-glycoprotein,a novel human ATP-binding cassette transporter

Cell fusion involving progenitor cells is a newly recognized phenomenon thought to contribute to tissue differentiation. The molecular mechanisms governing cell fusion are unknown. P-glycoprotein and related ATP-binding cassette transporters are expressed by progenitor cells, but their physiological role in these cell types has not been defined. Here, we have cloned ABCB5, a rhodamine efflux transporter and novel member of the human P-glycoprotein family, which marks CD133-expressing progenitor cells among human epidermal melanocytes and determines as a regulator of membrane potential the propensity of this subpopulation to undergo cell fusion. Our findings show that polyploid ABCB5+ cells are generated by cell fusion and that this process is specifically enhanced by ABCB5 P-glycoprotein blockade. Remarkably, multinucleated cell hybrids gave rise to mononucleated progeny, demonstrating that fusion contributes to culture growth and differentiation. Thus, our findings define a molecular mechanism for cell fusion involving progenitor cells and show that fusion and resultant growth and differentiation are not merely spontaneous events, but phenomena regulated by ABCB5 P-glycoprotein.     

病毒介导的细胞融合:癌症发生和发展的新视点

细胞融合(cell fusion)具有重要的生理意义。然而,病毒介导的非生理性细胞融合可能促进癌症的发生和发展。相对于基因突变等细胞癌变的传统诱因,病毒的这种致癌机制能够更合理地解释我们在癌症中发现的许多现象。病毒介导的细胞融合可能诱导癌症的观点对我们重新认识病毒相关肿瘤发生发展的机制,并依此调整癌症治疗的策略具有重要意义。     

The story of cell secretion: events leading to the discovery of the 'porosome' - the universal secretory machinery in cells

Cell secretion has come of age, and a century old quest has been elegantly solved. We have come a long way since earlier observations of what appeared to be 'fibrillar regions' at the cell plasma membrane, and electrophysiological studies suggesting the presence of 'fusion pores' at the cell plasma membrane where secretion occurs. Finally, the fusion pore or 'porosome' has been discovered, and its morphology and dynamics determined at nm resolution and in real time in live secretory cells. The porosome has been isolated, its composition determined and it has been both structurally and functionally reconstituted in artificial lipid membrane. The discovery of the porosome as the universal secretory machinery in cells and the discovery of the molecular mechanism of vesicular content expulsion during cell secretion have finally enabled a clear understanding of this important cellular process. This review outlines the fascinating and exciting journey leading to the discovery of the porosome, ultimately solving one of the most difficult, significant, and fundamental cellular process -cell secretion.     

葡萄糖浓度对细胞融合效果的影响

目的:细胞融合是细胞生物学领域近30年来得到迅速发展的一项新兴技术手段,因其操作简便、人工可控等优点在研究核质互作、肿瘤发生、疫苗研发和培育新型生物品种等方面均有广泛应用。其中,利用聚乙二醇(PEG)进行化学融合是细胞融合中最为常用且简便的技术手段。PEG化学融合效果受到多种因素影响,如PEG浓度、Ca2+、Mg2+、pH值等,然而对于糖类物质在细胞融合中的影响未见报道。本文旨在为了更全面了解PEG法诱导的化学细胞融合,通过优化融合条件以提高化学细胞融合效率。方法:选取鸡血血细胞为材料,通过改变原Hanks缓冲液中葡萄糖浓度,观察比较各组细胞融合率,探究葡萄糖浓度在化学细胞融合中的影响,并通过对比结果获得了对于鸡血血细胞应采用的最适葡萄糖浓度区间。结果:对于鸡血血细胞融合实验,葡萄糖浓度在10-14 mmol/L范围内细胞融合效率较原Hanks液配方高2倍左右。结论:葡萄糖对细胞融合效果具有一定的影响,可以通过调节葡萄糖浓度提高细胞融合率,从而为PEG化学细胞融合提供一种更为优化的方案。     

Biomaterials as carrier,barrier and reactor for cell-based regenerative medicine

Cell therapy has achieved tremendous success in regenerative medicine in the past several decades. However, challenges such as cell loss, death and immune-rejection after transplantation still persist. Biomaterials have been designed as carriers to deliver cells to desirable region for local tissue regeneration; as barriers to protect transplanted cells from host immune attack; or as reactors to stimulate host cell recruitment, homing and differentiation. With the assistance of biomaterials, improvement in treatment efficiency has been demonstrated in numerous animal models of degenerative diseases compared with routine free cell-based therapy. Emerging clinical applications of biomaterial assisted cell therapies further highlight their great promise in regenerative therapy and even cure for complex diseases, which have been failed to realize by conventional therapeutic approaches.     

Self- and non-self-recognition in bisexual mating of Dictyostelium discoideum

Cell recognition plays a central part in the sexual process. Although cell-surface molecules involved in gamete recognition have been identified in several organisms, our knowledge of the molecular basis of sexual cell recognition is still limited. We have been studying molecular mechanisms of sexual cell fusion using the lower eukaryote Dictyostelium discoideum . There are homothallic, heterothallic, bisexual and asexual strains in D. discoideum , and how they distinguish between each other to find out proper partners is an interesting and important question. However, analytical studies of sexuality in D. discoideum have been carried out mostly on heterothallic strains, and the polymorphism of the mating system has not yet been thoroughly investigated. In the present study, we extended our analysis to the bisexual mating phenomenon paying special attention to the mechanism of self-incompatibility. We showed that a bisexual strain WS2162 was self-incompatible at the step of sexual cell fusion. Results of antibody inhibition of cell fusion and detection of gp138, a cell-fusion-related protein found in heterothallic strains, suggest that a molecular basis for bisexual and heterothallic mating are common. We propose two models to clarify the mechanisms of self- and non-self discrimination in bisexual mating patterns of D. discoideum .     

Regulated exocytosis per partes

This Special Issue (SI) of Cell Calcium focuses on regulated exocytosis, a recent evolutionary invention of eukaryotic cells. This essential cellular process consists of several stages: (i) the delivery of membrane bound vesicles to specific plasma membrane sites, (ii) where the merger between the vesicle and the plasma membranes occurs, (iii) leading to the formation of an aqueous channel through which vesicle content starts to be discharged to the cell exterior, (iv) after the full incorporation of the vesicle membrane into the plasma membrane, the added vesicle membrane is retrieved back into the cytoplasm by endocytosis. (v) When a fusion pore opens it may close again, a process known as transient fusion pore opening (also kiss-and-run exocytosis). In some cell types these stages are extremely shortlived, as in some neurons, and thus relatively inaccessible to experimentation. In other cell types the transition between these stages is orders of magnitude slower and can be studied in more detail. However, despite the intense investigations of this critical biological process over the last decades, the molecular mechanisms underlying regulated exocytosis have yet to be fully resolved. We thus still lack a comprehensive physiological insight into the nature of the progressive and coupled stages of exocytosis. Such a molecular-level understanding would help to fully reconstruct this process in vitro, as well as identify potential therapeutic targets for a range of diseases and dysfunctions. There are 18 papers in this SI which have been organized into three sections: Rapid regulated exocytosis and calcium homeostasis with an introduction by Erwin Neher, Molecular mechanisms of regulated exocytosis, and Cell models for regulated exocytosis. Here we briefly outline and integrate the messages of these sections.     

Levels of sister-chromatid exchanges in hybrids between Bloom syndrome B-lymphoblastoid cells and various cell lines with lymphoid malignancy

The present study has been undertaken to examine the effect of cell hybridization of Bloom syndrome (BS) B-lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) and various cell lines from lymphoid malignancies in order to clarify the relationship between sister-chromatoid exchange (SCE) and malignant conditions. Cell hybridization studies have shown that though BS high-SCE frequencies were completed by fusion with normal cells, fusion with various malignant cell lines did not result in complete normalization of BS SCEs, with 15-30 SCEs remaining per hybrid cell, demonstrating possibly common defects in DNA of BS and malignant cells. These findings strongly support the idea that the characteristic high SCE frequency in BS cells has some connection with the malignant condition, and that at least one step in carcinogenesis is either accompanied by the production of SCEs, or that SCEs themselves cause such a step to occur.     

Cardiac cell therapy: pre-conditioning effects in cell-delivery strategies

Stem-cell therapy holds great promise for the treatment of ischemic heart disease. However, the benefit of cardiac cell therapy has not yet been proven in long-term clinical trials. Poor engraftment and survival of transplanted cells is one of the major concerns for the successful application of stem cells in cardiac cell therapy. Cell and cardiac pre-conditioning are now being explored as new approaches to support cell survival and enhance the therapeutic efficacy. In this paper, we summarize the state-of-the-art methods of cell delivery and cell survival post-delivery, with a focus on the pre-conditioning approaches that have been attempted to support the survival of transplanted cells.     

RNA interference-induced reduction in CD98 expression suppresses cell fusion during syncytialization of human placental BeWo cells

The physiological importance of CD98 surface antigen in regulating placental trophoblast cell fusion has been studied in a cell model of syncytialization (the cytotrophoblast cell line BeWo following increased intracellular cAMP by forskolin treatment) using RNA interference. CD98 protein abundance (determined by Western blot) was decreased by 40-50% following double-stranded small interfering RNA transfection. Cell fusion (determined by quantitative flow cytometry) was similarly inhibited and human chorionic gonadotropin secretion was suppressed. These findings show that CD98 is involved in the process of cell fusion necessary for syncytiotrophoblast formation.     

Effects of pH, Ca2+, temperature, and protease pretreatment on interkingdom fusion.

The incubation of carrot protoplasts and cultured Xenopus cells in a protease solution has been shown to enhance their subsequent interkingdom fusion by a high pH/high Ca2+ method. The effects of Ca2+ concentration, pH, and temperature on the frequency of heterokaryon formation have also been studied. Potentially viable heterokaryons have been repeatedly produced at high frequencies (consistently greater than 10%), far exceeding those so far achieved in PEG-mediated fusion. Cell aggregates are readily dispersed after this method of fusion, permitting the accurate estimation of fusion frequencies.     

Intermonomer disulfide bonds impair the fusion activity of influenza virus hemagglutinin.

At a low pH, the influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) undergoes conformational changes that promote membrane fusion. While the critical role of fusion peptide release from the trimer interface has been demonstrated previously, the role of globular head dissociation in the overall fusion mechanism remains unclear. To investigate this question, we have analyzed in detail the fusion activity and low pH-induced conformational changes of a mutant, Cys-HA, in which the globular head domains are locked together by engineered intermonomer disulfide bonds (L. Godley, J. Pfeifer, D. Steinhauer, B. Ely, G. Shaw, R. Kaufmann, E. Suchanek, C. Pabo, J. J. Skehel, D. C. Wiley, and S. Wharton, Cell 68:635-645, 1992). In this paper, we show that Cys-HA expressed on the cell surface is predominantly a disulfide-bonded trimer. Cell surface Cys-HA is impaired in its membrane fusion activity, as demonstrated by both content-mixing and lipid-mixing fusion assays. It is also impaired in its ability to change conformation at a low pH, as assessed by proteinase K sensitivity. The fusion activity and low pH-induced conformational changes of cell surface Cys-HA are, however, restored to nearly wild-type levels upon reduction of the intermonomer disulfide bonds. By using a set of conformation-specific monoclonal and anti-peptide antibodies, we found that purified Cys-HA trimers are impaired in changes that occur in the globular head domain interface. In addition, changes that occur at a great distance from the engineered intermonomer disulfide bonds, notably release of the fusion peptides, are also impaired. Our results are discussed with respect to current views of the fusion-active conformation of the HA trimer.     

Targeting the Ion Channel Kv1.3 with Scorpion Venom Peptides Engineered for Potency,Selectivity, and Half-life

Ion channels are an attractive class of drug targets, but progress in developing inhibitors for therapeutic use has been limited largely due to challenges in identifying subtype selective small molecules. Animal venoms provide an alternative source of ion channel modulators, and the venoms of several species, such as scorpions, spiders and snails, are known to be rich sources of ion channel modulating peptides. Importantly, these peptides often bind to hyper-variable extracellular loops, creating the potential for subtype selectivity rarely achieved with small molecules. We have engineered scorpion venom peptides and incorporated them in fusion proteins to generate highly potent and selective Kv1.3 inhibitors with long in vivo half-lives. Kv1.3 has been reported to play a role in human T cell activation, and therefore, these Kv1.3 inhibitor fusion proteins may have potential for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Our results support an emerging approach to generating subtype selective therapeutic ion channel inhibitors.