Stages of Cell Cannibalism--Entosis--in Normal Human Keratinocyte Culture

Entosis is a type of cell cannibalism during which one cell penetrates into another cell and usually dies inside it. Researchers mainly pay attention to initial and final stages of entosis. Besides, tumor cells in suspension are the primary object of studies. In the present study, we investigated morphological changes of both cells-participants of entosis during this process. The substrate-dependent culture of human normal keratinocytes HaCaT was chosen for the work. A combination of light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy was used to prove that one cell was completely surrounded by the plasma membrane of another cell. We investigated such "cell-in-cell" structures and described the structural and functional changes of both cells during entosis. The outer cell nucleus localization and shape were changed. Gradual degradation of the inner cell nucleus and of the junctions between the inner and the outer cells was revealed. Moreover, repeated redistribution of the outer cell membrane organelles (Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, mitochondria, and autophagosomes), rearrangement of its cytoskeleton, and change in the lysosomal, autophagosomal, and mitochondrial state in both entotic cells were observed during entosis. On the basis of these data, we divided entosis into five stages that make it possible to systematize description of this type of cell death.