The Devour Ring

In this act of microscopic cannibalism, known as entosis, one human cell engulfs another. A bit like a snake dislocating its jaw to eat a mouse (although 2000 times smaller) the predatory cell (on the left in these pictures) opens up its cytoplasm, forming a ring shape, pictured in 3D on the top row and in cross section beneath. Scientists find this ‘mechanical ring’ is riddled with a mechanical sensor called vinculin, and expands by coordinating stretchy actomyosin in the cells’ membranes at the adherens junction – the boundary where cells touch. The engulfed cell usually dies, so entosis is often considered a mysterious form of programmed cell death. Learning more about the ring, and how it forms, might offer clues into slowing cancer progression, where tumour cells sometimes use entosis to consume surrounding healthy tissue.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Manna Wang, Zubiao Niu and Hongquan Qin, and colleagues
• Laboratory of Cell Engineering, Institute of Biotechnology, Beijing, China
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Cell Reports, August 2020