title: Tumour cell hybridization and metastasis revisited.
abstract: This article reviews a long-standing hypothesis that metastases might be initiated through the generation of hybrids between primary tumour cells and tumour-infiltrating leucocytes such as macrophages. In this concept the hybrids become metastatic through expression of the leucocyte motility phenotype. A history of the hybrid hypothesis is presented along with recent evidence on how macrophage x tumour cell hybridization could account for some of the most defining characteristics of metastatic cells: aneuploidy, enhanced motility, aberrant glycosylation and, particularly seen in melanoma, phenotypic diversity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. john.pawelek@yale.edu
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pawelek
mesh_terms: D000782:Aneuploidy; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D002465:Cell Movement; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006031:Glycosylation; D006801:Humans; D006822:Hybrid Cells; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic; D008264:Macrophages / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D010641:Phenotype