Studying the Dynamics of Tunneling Tubes and Cellular Spheres

Abstract

Cancer cytogenetic analyses often involve cell culture. However, many cytogeneticists overlook interesting phenotypes associated with cultured cells. Given that cytogeneticists need to focus more on phenotypes to comprehend the genotypes, the biological significance of seemingly trivial cellular variations deserves attention. One example is the formation of cellular tunneling tubes (TTs) in cultured cancer cells, which likely play a role in cell-to-cell communication and material transport. In this chapter, we describe protocols for studying these TTs as well as cellular spheres. In addition to diverse chromosomal variants, these different types of variations should be considered for understanding cancer heterogeneity and dynamics, as they illustrate the importance of various forms of fuzzy inheritance.

Keywords: Cell communication; Cellular heterogeneity; Fuzzy inheritance; Tube network; Tunneling nanotubes or TNTs.