DR-302 Virus-Induced Cell-Cell Fusion as a Driver of Metastasis

Many viruses that commonly infect humans have been found to fuse cells.  Evidence suggests that the products of cell fusion can retain some characteristics of the original cells, but that they can also develop malignant characteristics, accelerate cancer progression, and facilitate metastasis. Using whole genome sequencing data we want to identify tumours in which virus-induced cell-cell fusion may have played a role, and potentially contributed to metastasis.  This will lead to novel insights into the origins of metastasis, and may be used to identify patients who are at risk of virus-induced cell-cell fusion mediated metastasis. 

David Wedge, University of Manchester, United Kingdom