TMV obtained from GC1415 cells showed significant het-erogeneity in immunophenotype, size and morphology.
TMV expressed some tumour markers and several mol-ecules which may facilitate their attachment to parental
cancer cells. Uptake of TMV, carrying these molecules
and their mRNA, by GC1415 cells resulted in enhance-ment of tumour growth and angiogenesis in NOD SCID
mice. The presented data support hypothesis of auto-crine tumour loops [43] in which TMV serve as macro-messengers in delivering signals and molecular cargo to
the neighbour tumour cells. Therefore, the engulfment of
TMV by cancer cells may qualify them as potential natu-ral carriers of anticancer agents