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Tunneling nanotubes (TNT): a potential mechanism for intercellular trafficking
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Tunneling nanotubes (TNT): a potential mechanism for intercellular trafficking

Eliseo A. Eugenin, Peter J. Gaskill and Joan W. Berman
Communicative & integrative biology, v 2(3)
01 May 2009
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4161/cib.2.3.8165
url
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.4161/cib.2.3.8165?needAccess=trueView
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open
url
https://doi.org/10.4161/cib.2.3.8165View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Cell-to-cell communication coordinates the development of multicellular systems, and is mediated by soluble factors, gap junctions and the recently described tunneling nanotubes (TNT).  Both TNT and gap junctions facilitate the transfer of intracellular mediators between the cytoplasm of connected cells. We recently described that HIV induced the formation of TNT in human primary macrophages in correlation with viral replication. Based on these results we hypothesized that during HIV infection, TNTs are hijacked by HIV to spread infection. TNT like structures may be a novel mechanism of amplification of HIV infection. Our findings and those of others require further investigation to identify the specific mechanims by which pathogens use TNT.

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