BackgroundCell fusion is a natural process in normal development and tissue regeneration. Fusion between cancer cells and macrophages generates metastatic hybrids with genetic and phenotypic characteristics from both maternal cells. However, there are no clinical markers for detecting cell fusion in clinical context. Macrophage-specific antigen CD163 expression in tumor cells is reported in breast and colorectal cancers and proposed being caused by macrophages-cancer cell fusion in tumor stroma. The purpose of this study is to examine the cell fusion process as a biological explanation for macrophage phenotype in breast.MethodsMonocytes, harvested from male blood donor, were activated to M2 macrophages and co-cultured in ThinCert transwell system with GFP-labeled MCF-7 cancer cells. MCF7/macrophage hybrids were generated by spontaneous cell fusion, isolated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting and confirmed by fluorescence microscopy, short tandem repeats analysis and flow cytometry. CD163 expression was evaluated in breast tumor samples material from 127 women by immunohistochemistry.ResultsMCF-7/macrophage hybrids were generated spontaneously at average rate of 2 % and showed phenotypic and genetic traits from both maternal cells. CD163 expression in MCF-7 cells could not be induced by paracrine interaction with M2-activated macrophages. CD163 positive cancer cells in tumor sections grew in clonal collection and a cutoff point >25 % of positive cancer cells was significantly correlated to disease free and overall survival.ConclusionsIn conclusion, macrophage traits in breast cancer might be caused by cell fusion rather than explained by paracrine cellular interaction. These data provide new insights into the role of cell fusion in breast cancer and contributes to the development of clinical markers to identify cell fusion.

Cell fusion is a natural biological process in normal development and tissue regeneration. Fusion between cancer cells and macrophages results in hybrids that acquire genetic and phenotypic characteristics from both maternal cells. There is a growing body of in vitro and in vivo data indicating that this process also occurs in solid tumors and may play a significant role in tumor progression. However, investigations of the response of macrophage:cancer cell hybrids to radiotherapy have been lacking. In this study, macrophage:MCF-7 hybrids were generated by spontaneous in vitro cell fusion. After irradiation, both hybrids and their maternal MCF-7 cells were treated with 0 Gy, 2.5 Gy and 5 Gy γ-radiation and examined by clonogenic survival and comet assays at three time points (0 h, 24 h, and 48 h). Compared to maternal MCF-7 cells, the hybrids showed increased survival fraction and plating efficiency (colony formation ability) after radiation. The hybrids developed less DNA-damage, expressed significantly lower residual DNA-damage, and after higher radiation dose showed less heterogeneity in DNA-damage compared to their maternal MCF-7 cells. To our knowledge this is the first study that demonstrates that macrophage:cancer cell fusion generates a subpopulation of radioresistant cells with enhanced DNA-repair capacity. These findings provide new insight into how the cell fusion process may contribute to clonal expansion and tumor heterogeneity. Furthermore, our results provide support for cell fusion as a mechanism behind the development of radioresistance and tumor recurrence.

Inflammasomes cleave and activate interleukin- (IL-) 1β and IL-18 which have both shared and unique biological functions. IL-1β is an important mediator of the acute phase response to infections and tissue damage, whereas IL-18 takes part in activation and tailoring of the adaptive immune response. While IL-1β has served as the prototypic indicator of inflammasome activation, few studies have compared the potential differences in IL-1β and IL-18 production during inflammasome activation. Since these cytokines partake in different immune pathways, the involvement of inflammasome activity in different conditions needs to be described beyond IL-1β production alone. To address a potential heterogeneity in inflammasome functionality, ATP, chitosan, or silica oxide (SiO2) were used to induce NLRP3 inflammasome activation in THP-1 cells and the subsequent outcomes were quantified. Despite using doses of the inflammasome inducers yielding similar release of IL-1β, SiO2-stimulated cells showed a lower concentration of released IL-18 compared to ATP and chitosan. Hence, the cells stimulated with SiO2 responded with a distinctly different IL-18 : IL-1β ratio. The difference in the IL-18 : IL-1β ratio for SiO2 was constant over different doses. While all downstream responses were strictly dependent on a functional NLRP3 inflammasome, the differences did not depend on the level of gene expression, caspase-1 activity, or pyroptosis. We suggest that the NLRP3 inflammasome response should be considered a dynamic process, which can be described by taking the ratio between IL-1β and IL-18 into account and moving away from an on/off perspective of inflammasome activation.

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Myeloid‐derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are functionally immunosuppressive cells that arise and expand during extensive inflammatory conditions by increased hematopoietic output or reprogramming of immune cells. In sepsis, an increase of circulating MDSCs is associated with adverse outcomes, but unique traits that can be used to identify increased activity of MDSCs are lacking. By using endotoxin tolerance as a model of sepsis‐induced monocytic MDSCs (M‐MDSC‐like cells), this study aims to identify the mediator and transcriptional regulator profile associated with M‐MDSC activity. After analyzing 180 inflammation‐associated proteins, a profile of differentially expressed cytokines was found in M‐MDSC‐like cells versus normal monocytes stimulated with LPS. These cytokines were associated with 5 candidate transcription factors, where particularly PU.1 showed differential expression on both transcriptional and protein levels in M‐MDSC‐like cells. Furthermore, inhibition of PU.1 led to increased production of CXCL5 and CCL8 in M‐MDSC‐like cells indicating its role in regulating the ability of M‐MDSC‐like cells to recruit other immune cells. Taken together, the study identifies a unique profile in the pattern of immune mediators defining M‐MDSC activity upon LPS stimulation, which offers a functional link to their contribution to immunosuppression.