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8257839 
Book/Book Chapter 
Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs): Intratumoral cell-to-cell communication 
Vignais, ML; Nakhle, J; Griessinger, E 
2018 
Elsevier 
Encyclopedia of Cancer 
513-522 
English 
Tumors are heterogeneous tissues that recruit non-cancerous cells to the tumor microenvironment. In the past few years, the paradigm for the intercellular communication within the tumor, mainly based on plasma membrane receptor signaling, radically changed with the discovery that cells can physically interact through thin tunneling nanotube (TNT) connections that can span hundreds of microns. TNTs allow the transport of biological cargos, ranging from calcium ions to organelles like mitochondria, between cells present within the tumor. These TNT-mediated connections in tumors have a strong biological significance as they promote tumor progression and resistance to therapy and might also be responsible for the remodeling of the cancer microenvironment by the cancer cells. © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
Cancer cells; Gap junctions; Intercellular communication; Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC); Metabolism; Mitochondria trafficking; Organelle intercellular transfer; Response to chemotherapy; Tumor microenvironment; Tunneling nanotubes (TNT)