Cell Fusions

Cell fusions are important to fertilization, placentation, development of skeletal muscle and bone, calcium homeostasis and the immune defence system. Additionally, cell fusions participate in tissue repair and may be important to cancer development and progression. A large number of factors appear to regulate cell fusions, including receptors and ligands, membrane domain organizing proteins, proteases, signaling molecules and fusogenic proteins forming alpha-helical bundles that bring membranes close together.