Intercellular conduits in tumours: the new social network.

The role of intercellular communication is increasingly recognized as being critical to tumoral invasion, metastasis, and development of resistance to therapy. The recent discovery of cellular protrusions - tumour microtubes - connecting cancer cells in gliomas, and tunneling nanotubes in several other forms of cancer, sheds light on a novel mechanism for molecular networking. Interrupting and disrupting vital lines of intercellular cross-talk via these membranous cellular tubes has strong potential as a novel form of cancer-directed therapy.