Tunneling Nanotubes and Gap Junctions–Their Role in Long-Range Intercellular Communication during Development, Health, and Disease Conditions

Jennifer Ariazi (1) , Andrew Benowitz (1) , Vern De Biasi (1) , Monique den Boer (2) , Stephanie Cherqui (3) , Haifeng Cui (1) , Nathalie Douillet (4) , Eliseo Eugenin (5, 6) , David Favre (7) , Spencer Goodman (3) , Karine Gousset (3) , Dorit Hanein (8) , David Israel (9) , Shunsuke Kimura (10) , Robert Kirkpatrick (1) , Nastaran Kuhn (11) , Emil Lou (12) , Robbie Mailliard (13) , Stephen Maio (12) , George Okafo (4) , Matthias Osswald (13, 14) , Jennifer Pasquier (15) , Roel Polak (2) , Gabriele Pradel (16) , Bob de Rooij (2) , Peter Schaeffer (1) , Vytenis Skeberdis (17) , Ian Smith (18) , Ahmad Tanveer (19) , Niels Volkmann (8) , Zhenhua Wu (1) , Chiara Zurzolo (20)

1 Research Statistics, GlaxoSmithKline, Collegeville, Pennsylvania
2 Eramus MC-Sophia Children’s Hospital
3 UC - University of California
4 GSK - GlaxoSmithKline [Stevenage, UK]
5 PHRI - Public Health Research Institute [Newark]
6 William Paterson University of New Jersey
7 GSK - GlaxoSmithKline [Research Triangle Park]
8 Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute
9 GlaxoSmithKline
10 Hokkaido University Hospital [Sapporo]
11 NCI-NIH - National Cancer Institute [Bethesda]
12 University of Minnesota Medical School
13 Heidelberg University Hospital [Heidelberg]
14 DKFZ - German Cancer Research Center - Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum [Heidelberg]
15 Weill Cornell Medicine [Qatar]
16 UKA - Universitätsklinikum RWTH Aachen - University Hospital Aachen [Aachen, Germany]
17 LSMU - Lithuanian University of health Sciences
18 UC Irvine - University of California [Irvine]
19 National Institute of Health, Bethesda
20 Trafic membranaire et Pathogénèse

Cell-to-cell communication is essential for the organization, coordination, and development of cellular networks and multi-cellular systems. Intercellular communication is mediated by soluble factors (including growth factors, neurotransmitters, and cytokines/chemokines), gap junctions, exosomes and recently described tunneling nanotubes (TNTs). It is unknown whether a combination of these communication mechanisms such as TNTs and gap junctions may be important, but further research is required. TNTs are long cytoplasmic bridges that enable long-range, directed communication between connected cells. The proposed functions of TNTs are diverse and not well understood but have been shown to include the cell-to-cell transfer of vesicles, organelles, electrical stimuli and small molecules. However, the exact role of TNTs and gap junctions for intercellular communication and their impact on disease is still uncertain and thus, the subject of much debate. The combined data from numerous laboratories indicate that some TNT mediate a long-range gap junctional communication to coordinate metabolism and signaling, in relation to infectious, genetic, metabolic, cancer, and age-related diseases. This review aims to describe the current knowledge, challenges and future perspectives to characterize and explore this new intercellular communication system and to design TNT-based therapeutic strategies.

Mots clés: Alzheimer; cancer; gap junctions; inflammation; reactivation

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Jennifer Ariazi, Andrew Benowitz, Vern De Biasi, Monique den Boer, Stephanie Cherqui, et al.. Tunneling Nanotubes and Gap Junctions–Their Role in Long-Range Intercellular Communication during Development, Health, and Disease Conditions. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 2017, 10, pp.333. ⟨10.3389/fnmol.2017.00333⟩. ⟨pasteur-03935195⟩