ArticleNature2008
Efficient tumour formation by single human melanoma cells.
Article in Nature, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02854124 (Melanoma Cells Dissemination Study in Healthy Patients' Tissues), which is not on this map. Cited by 876 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Melanoma Cells Dissemination Study in Healthy Patients' Tissues
Who cites it
876 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Do cancer stem cells exist? A pilot study combining a systematic review with the hierarchy-of-hypotheses approach.PloS one · 2019Pooled it
- Protocol to generate an allo-transplantable tumor in mouse models using the YUMM1.7 cell line.STAR protocols · 2026Article
- LDAcoop: Integrating non-linear population dynamics into the analysis of clonogenic growth in vitro.Molecular oncology · 2026Article
- Depleting HIF‑1α attenuates the progression of osteosarcoma, but tumorigenicity is sustained through HIF‑independent pathways.Oncology reports · 2026Article
- Micrometastasis-derived models enable drug testing for early-stage, high-risk melanoma patients.EMBO molecular medicine · 2026Article
- A BRN2:MYC transcriptional axis regulates interconversion between therapy-resistant and tumorigenic phenotypes in melanoma.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Mechanisms of tumor persistence in metastatic melanoma following successful immunotherapy.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Biology of stem cell paradox: a double-edged sword-implications for cancer therapy.Cancer cell international · 2025Review
- Lipid metabolism in cancer stem cells: reprogramming, mechanisms, crosstalk, and therapeutic approaches.Cellular oncology (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2025Review
- Feature-driven whole-tissue imaging with subcellular resolution.Cell reports methods · 2025Article
- Review
- Article
- Prospective Isolation According to Melanin Pigment Content of Melanoma Cells With Heterogeneous Potentials for Disease Propagation.Pigment cell & melanoma research · 2025Article
- Tumors and their microenvironments: Learning from pediatric brain pathologies.Biochimica et biophysica acta. Reviews on cancer · 2025Review
- Article
- MCSPNature cancer · 2025Article
- The depth of tumor hierarchy and its impact on hypertumor susceptibility.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Review
- Model systems to study tumor-microbiome interactions in early-onset colorectal cancer.EMBO molecular medicine · 2025Review
- Survival expectations in melanoma patients: a molecular prognostic model associated with aging.Discover oncology · 2025Article
816 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
A fundamental question in cancer biology is whether cells with tumorigenic potential are common or rare within human cancers. Studies on diverse cancers, including melanoma, have indicated that only rare human cancer cells (0.1-0.0001%) form tumours when transplanted into non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency (NOD/SCID) mice. However, the extent to which NOD/SCID mice underestimate the frequency of tumorigenic human cancer cells has been uncertain. Here we show that modified xenotransplantation assay conditions, including the use of more highly immunocompromised NOD/SCID interleukin-2 receptor gamma chain null (Il2rg(-/-)) mice, can increase the detection of tumorigenic melanoma cells by several orders of magnitude. In limiting dilution assays, approximately 25% of unselected melanoma cells from 12 different patients, including cells from primary and metastatic melanomas obtained directly from patients, formed tumours under these more permissive conditions. In single-cell transplants, an average of 27% of unselected melanoma cells from four different patients formed tumours. Modifications to xenotransplantation assays can therefore dramatically increase the detectable frequency of tumorigenic cells, demonstrating that they are common in some human cancers.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.