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Letter

Nature Cell Biology 10, 584–592 (1 May 2008) | doi:10.1038/ncb1721

Myeloid and lymphoid contribution to non-haematopoietic lineages through irradiation-induced heterotypic cell fusion

Jens M. Nygren , Karina Liuba , Martin Breitbach , Simon Stott , Lina Thor|[eacute]|n , Wilhelm Roell , Caroline Geisen , Philipp Sasse , Deniz Kirik , Anders Bj|[ouml]|rklund , Claus Nerlov , Bernd K. Fleischmann , Stefan Jovinge & Sten Eirik W. Jacobsen

Recent studies have suggested that regeneration of non-haematopoietic cell lineages can occur through heterotypic cell fusion with haematopoietic cells of the myeloid lineage. Here we show that lymphocytes also form heterotypic-fusion hybrids with cardiomyocytes, skeletal muscle, hepatocytes and Purkinje neurons.