Interbilayer Forces in Membrane Fusion - Applications

Applications

Interbilayer forces play a key role in mediating membrane fusion, which has extremely important biomedical applications.

• The most important application of membrane fusion is in the production of hybridomas which are cells that arise as a result of the fusion of antibody-secreting and immortal B-cells. Hybridomas are used in the industry for the production of monoclonal antibodies.

• Membrane fusion also has a major role in cancer immunotherapy. Currently, one of the approaches in cancer immunotherapy involves vaccination of dendritic cells which express a specific tumor antigen on their membranes. Instead, the hybrid cells obtained from the fusion of dendritic cells with tumor cells can be used. These hybrids would help in the expression of a range of tumor-associated antigens on their membranes.

• Understanding membrane fusion better can also lead to improvements in gene therapy.