Fig. 1

Cell fusion between hucMSCs and gastric cancer cells. a. Cell sorting of HGC27-hucMSC fused cells by flow cytometry. HGC-27 and hucMSCs were labeled with DIO and DID, respectively. DIO-HGC27 and DID-hucMSC was collected respectively. The control group indicates spontaneous fusion while the fusion represents the PEG1500-mediated generation of double positive hybrids. b. The statistical analyses of fusion efficiency. The data represent mean ± SD of three independent experiments. *P < 0.05,***P < 0.001 (c) Microscopic fluorescent images of fused cells. (a) The single double-positive hybrid was detected on the third day after sorting. Scale bar 100 μm, Magnification: ×200; (b) Hybrids with two nuclei were stained with Hoechst 33342 (blue) and cell membrane structures were double-labeled (yellow) were observed on the seventh day after sorting. Scale bar 100 μm, Magnification: ×200. d. Representative images from the cell population gates were tested by imaging cytometer. HGC-27 and hucMSCs were stained with DIO (green) and DID (red), respectively. In the “unfused”group, under the treatment of PEG1500, the two cells formed an adhesion structure but not a hybrid. Also, the hybrids fused with DIO-HGC27 and DID-HucMSCs are yellow and showed in the“fused” group. The double positive cell populations were gated in R2, the population of hybrids was 8.08 %