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Letter

Nature Cell Biology 10, 575–583 (1 May 2008) | doi:10.1038/ncb1720

Extensive fusion of haematopoietic cells with Purkinje neurons in response to chronic inflammation

Clas B. Johansson , Sawsan Youssef , Kassie Koleckar , Colin Holbrook , Regis Doyonnas , Stephane Y. Corbel , Lawrence Steinman , Fabio M. V. Rossi & Helen M. Blau

Transplanted bone marrow-derived cells (BMDCs) have been reported to fuse with cells of diverse tissues, but the extremely low frequency of fusion has led to the view that such events are biologically insignificant. Nonetheless, in mice with a lethal recessive liver disease (tyrosinaemia), transplantation of wild-type BMDCs restored liver function by cell fusion and prevented death, indicating that cell fusion can have beneficial effects.