title: The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway tips the balance between apoptosis and reprograming of cell fusion hybrids.
abstract: Cell-cell fusion contributes to cell differentiation and developmental processes. We have previously showed that activation of Wnt/β-catenin enhances somatic cell reprograming after polyethylene glycol (PEG)-mediated fusion. Here, we show that neural stem cells and ESCs can fuse spontaneously in cocultures, although with very low efficiency (about 2%), as the hybrids undergo apoptosis. In contrast, when Wnt/β-catenin signaling is activated in ESCs and leads to accumulation of low amounts of β-catenin in the nucleus, activated ESCs can reprogram somatic cells with very high efficiency after spontaneous fusion. Furthermore, we also show that different levels of β-catenin accumulation in the ESC nuclei can modulate cell proliferation, although in our experimental setting, cell proliferation does not modulate the reprograming efficiency per se. Overall, the present study provides evidence that spontaneous fusion occurs, while the survival of the reprogramed clones is strictly dependent on induction of a Wnt-mediated reprograming pathway.
authors.affiliation: Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine CNR, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lluis
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pedone
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pepe
authors.forename: Maria Pia
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Cosma
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002459:Cell Fusion / Q000379:methods*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D065150:Cellular Reprogramming / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D051379:Mice; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D051153:Wnt Proteins; D051176:beta Catenin
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