Biological Interaction Between Lymphocytes and. Other Cells

Emperipolesis – A Review

“…Emperipolesis is derived from the Greek (em -inside; peri -around; polemai -wander about) and was defined by Humble et al, [1] as "The active penetration of one cell by another which remains intact." It differs from phagocytosis in that an engulfed cell exists temporarily within another cell and with an intact normal structure while in phagocytosis, the engulfed cell is destroyed by the protective action of lysosomal enzymes.…”

Internalization of NK cells into tumor cells requires ezrin and leads to programmed cell-in-cell death

“…Humble et al [2] coined the term emperipolesis in 1950s, to define the heterogeneous cell-in-cell phenomena when they studied biological interaction of lymphocytes with other cells. Since then, emperipolesis has been observed in lymphocyte activities in physiological and pathophysiological settings [3].…”

Emperipolesis of Hematopoietic Cells within Megakaryocytes in Bone Marrow of the Rat

“…Emperipolesis, a word of Greek derivation, was defined as "the active penetration of one cell by another which remains intact" by Humble et al 4 It differs from phagocytosis in that an engulfed cell only temporarily exists within another cell and remains viable with intact normal structure. Emperipolesis has been recognized in association with human lymphocyte^,^ tumor cells, Sternberg-Reed cells, and r n e g a k a r y~c y t e s .~~~~~~~ Recently, Chiu2 described briefly the light microscopic observation of megakaryocytes containing marrow cells in rats that had been used for toxicity or chemical carcinogenicity testing.…”