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Updated: Mar 21, 2026

Cell Electrofusion Visualized with Fluorescence Microscopy
Published on: July 1, 2010
The Dark Side of Cell Fusion
Daniel Bastida-Ruiz1, Kylie Van Hoesen2, Marie Cohen3
1Department of Gynecology Obstetrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva 1211, Switzerland. daniel.bastida@etu.unige.ch.
Abstract:
Cell fusion is a physiological cellular process essential for fertilization, viral entry, muscle differentiation and placental development, among others. In this review, we will highlight the different cancer cell-cell fusions and the advantages obtained by these fusions. We will specially focus on the acquisition of metastatic features by cancer cells after fusion with bone marrow-derived cells. The mechanism by which cancer cells fuse with other cells has been poorly studied thus far, but the presence in several cancer cells of syncytin, a trophoblastic fusogen, leads us to a cancer cell fusion mechanism similar to the one used by the trophoblasts. The mechanism by which cancer cells perform the cell fusion could be an interesting target for cancer therapy.
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