Perspectives of cellular communication through tunneling nanotubes in cancer cells and the connection to radiation effec
- PDF / 1,768,693 Bytes
- 11 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 97 Downloads / 133 Views
REVIEW
Open Access
Perspectives of cellular communication through tunneling nanotubes in cancer cells and the connection to radiation effects Nicole Matejka
and Judith Reindl*
Abstract Direct cell-to-cell communication is crucial for the survival of cells in stressful situations such as during or after radiation exposure. This communication can lead to non-targeted effects, where non-treated or non-infected cells show effects induced by signal transduction from non-healthy cells or vice versa. In the last 15 years, tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) were identified as membrane connections between cells which facilitate the transfer of several cargoes and signals. TNTs were identified in various cell types and serve as promoter of treatment resistance e.g. in chemotherapy treatment of cancer. Here, we discuss our current understanding of how to differentiate tunneling nanotubes from other direct cellular connections and their role in the stress reaction of cellular networks. We also provide a perspective on how the capability of cells to form such networks is related to the ability to surpass stress and how this can be used to study radioresistance of cancer cells. Keywords: Cellular communication, Tunneling nanotubes, Radioresistance, Cancer
Background During cell survival and development, it is crucial for cells to have the possibility to communicate among each other. Without that essential tool they are not able to coordinate and organize themselves in complex cellular systems such as tissue or organisms [1]. Especially in stress situations which affect cell survival either directly through damaging DNA or indirectly through limiting the functionality of cellular organelles, communication plays a key role for the survival of a cell composite as already known since several decades [2, 3]. Moreover, the transfer of cellular organelles, proteins or signals from healthy to non-healthy cells can lead to enhanced cell survival capability [4–7]. Simultaneously, the same mechanisms can promote the progression of diseases such as Parkinson, Alzheimer, Huntington or HIV through transduction of viruses, bacteria and prions [5, 8–15]. Additionally, cellular communication plays a key role in different kinds of cancer, as it is * Correspondence: [email protected] Institut für angewandte Physik und Messtechnik, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39, 85577 Neubiberg, Germany
e.g. known that the invasive potential and chemotherapy resistance is linked to enhanced communication activity in cancer cells [2, 16, 17] and also communication is altered in cancerous tissue [2]. The major effects, which are caused by cellular communication related to radiotherapy are non-targeted or Bystander effects [18, 19], where non irradiated cells show a radiation response which is expressed by e.g. genomic instability, enhanced apoptosis and enhanced DNA damage [20]. These responses have been attributed to direct transfer through gap junctions [21] or factors such as exosome-like vesicles [22], which are released by irrad
Data Loading...
