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Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: BACKGROUND, METHODS, RESULTS. Meshes: Carcinoma, Hepatocellular, Cell Fusion, Cell Line, Tumor, Flow Cytometry, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Human Embryonic Stem Cells, Humans, Hyaluronan Receptors, Lasers, Liver, Liver Neoplasms, Neoplasm Proteins, Neoplastic Stem Cells.
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Does fusion with stem cell make the hepatocellular carcinoma cells similar to liver tumor-initiating cells? Context: Cell fusion is a fast and highly efficient technique for cells to acquire new properties. The fusion of somatic cells with stem cells can reprogram somatic cells to a pluripotent state. Our research on the fusion of stem cells and cancer cells demonstrates that the fused cells can exhibit stemness and cancer cell-like characteristics. Thus, tumor-initiating cell-like cells are generated. We employed laser-induced single-cell fusion technique to fuse the hepatocellular carcinoma cells and human embryonic stem cells (hESC). Real-time RT-PCR, flow cytometry and in vivo tumorigenicity assay were adopted to identify the gene expression difference. We successfully produced a fused cell line that coalesces the gene expression information of hepatocellular carcinoma cells and stem cells. Experimental results showed that the fused cells expressed cancer and stemness markers as well as exhibited increased resistance to drug treatment and enhanced tumorigenesis.
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Fusion with stem cells transforms liver cancer cells into tumor initiating-like cells. Results indicate that fusion between cancer cell and stem cell may generate tumor initiating-like cells. Final Decision: yes