The regenerating tail of lizard transits through a tumour‐like stage represented by the regenerative blastema

Abstract

Review. The regenerating tail of lizard transits through a tumour‐like stage represented by the regenerative blastema. Acta Zoologica (Stockolm). Molecular studies on lizard tail regeneration indicate that the blastema stage is a tumour‐like outgrowth capable of self‐regulate to produce a new tail. Various oncogenes and tumour suppressors are expressed, and their proteins are localized in specific regions of the growing blastema. SnoRNAs are exclusively overexpressed in the tail blastema suggesting changes in ribosome translation efficiency in blastema cells, like in cancer. Blastema cells secrete high levels of hyaluronate and adopt an anaerobic metabolism (Warburg effect). These studies indicate that the lizard blastema represents a unique case among terrestrial vertebrates of physiological tumour remission. Mesenchymal cells and fibroblasts forming the blastema are turned within 1–2 months into a functional organ, the tail. In vitro studies on isolated mesenchymal cells from the regenerative blastema shows that these cells do not undergo contact inhibition but continue proliferation after confluence, and contain nestin, vimentin and K17. After 2–3 weeks they stratify into 5–7 layers forming a pellicle of loose connective tissue. Future molecular studies on genes and proteins that allow the control of growth in the lizard blastema may help to determine how lizards turn a tumour into a new organ with numerous differentiated and functional tissues, providing clues on cancer growth regulation.