title: Cell Fusion in the War on Cancer: A Perspective on the Inception of Malignancy.
abstract: Cell fusion occurs in development and in physiology and rarely in those settings is it associated with malignancy. However, deliberate fusion of cells and possibly untoward fusion of cells not suitably poised can eventuate in aneuploidy, DNA damage and malignant transformation. How often cell fusion may initiate malignancy is unknown. However, cell fusion could explain the high frequency of cancers in tissues with low underlying rates of cell proliferation and mutation. On the other hand, cell fusion might also engage innate and adaptive immune surveillance, thus helping to eliminate or retard malignancies. Here we consider whether and how cell fusion might weigh on the overall burden of cancer in modern societies.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Surgery and of Microbiology &amp; Immunology, University of Michigan, A520B Medical Sciences Research Building I, 1150 W. Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5656, USA. plattjl@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Jeffrey L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Platt
authors.affiliation: Departments of Surgery and of Microbiology &amp; Immunology, University of Michigan, A520B Medical Sciences Research Building I, 1150 W. Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5656, USA. xiazhou@med.umich.edu.
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Departments of Surgery and of Microbiology &amp; Immunology, University of Michigan, A520B Medical Sciences Research Building I, 1150 W. Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5656, USA. aleffert@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Adam R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Lefferts
authors.affiliation: Departments of Surgery and of Microbiology &amp; Immunology, University of Michigan, A520B Medical Sciences Research Building I, 1150 W. Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5656, USA. marilia@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Marilia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cascalho
mesh_terms: D002459:Cell Fusion; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D004249:DNA Damage / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000276:immunology*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: DNA damage; aneuploidy; cancer; cancer progression; cell fusion; immune surveillance; malignant transformation; mitosis; mutation; oncogenesis