Emperipolesis

Emperipolesis is the entry of one living cell into another, where it remains intact rather than being engulfed and destroyed. The internalized cell may later leave the host cell.

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Cell-in-cell structures: Structures in which one cell is located inside another cell. Emperipolesis is one process that can produce a cell-in-cell structure.
Neutrophil emperipolesis: The presence of an intact neutrophil within another cell, especially a megakaryocyte. Neutrophils entering megakaryocytes are a classic form of emperipolesis.
Megakaryocyte: A large bone-marrow cell that produces platelets by releasing fragments of its cytoplasm. Megakaryocytes are frequent host cells in hematological emperipolesis.
Cell-in-cell biology: The study of processes and structures in which one cell resides inside another. Emperipolesis belongs to a broader field comparing how cell-in-cell structures form and function.
Entosis: A cell-in-cell process in which a living cell actively enters another cell and is often killed there. Entosis can resemble emperipolesis, but the internalized cell is commonly degraded.
Megakaryocyte emperipolesis: The presence of another intact cell, often a neutrophil, within a bone-marrow megakaryocyte. Megakaryocytes provide a well-studied setting for observing the process.
Neutrophil: A short-lived white blood cell that rapidly responds to infection and tissue injury. Neutrophils are among the most commonly described cells found inside megakaryocytes.
Cellular cannibalism: The uptake and consumption of one cell by another, especially in pathological or tumor settings. Whether an observed cell-in-cell event ends in survival or consumption is a central distinction.
Phagocytosis: A cellular process that engulfs particles or cells into membrane-bound compartments for digestion or other processing. Unlike phagocytosis, emperipolesis does not inherently destroy the internalized cell.
Rosai-Dorfman disease: A rare histiocytic disorder marked by accumulation of distinctive histiocytes, often in lymph nodes. Emperipolesis of lymphocytes is a characteristic microscopic finding in affected tissue.