Viewing malignant melanoma cells as macrophage-tumor hybrids.

Cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) begins in the epidermis as the clonal emergence of melanocytes having a deregulated mitotic cycle. In a manner not yet understood, some descendents of these cells loosen their adhesions in situ and migrate into the dermis, thus initiating the processes of invasion and metastasis. These cells look and act much like macrophage-melanoma hybrids created in the lab or arising in mice. But genetic proof for hybrids in human melanoma is still lacking. Nonetheless, should tumor cell hybridization account for the invasive phenotype, this would surely evoke new therapeutic approaches regarding mechanisms of cell fusion and hybrid-specific molecular signatures. Here are described some of the remarkable phenotypic similarities between experimental macrophage-melanoma hybrids and CMM. The results suggest that invasive and metastatic CMM might well arise through fusion and genomic hybridization between melanoma cells and migratory bone marrow-derived cells.