ArticleCommunicative & integrative biology2012
Tunneling Nanotubes: A new paradigm for studying intercellular communication and therapeutics in cancer.
Article in Communicative & integrative biology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 70 papers.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
70 citing papers in PubMed, 119 citations in OpenAlex.
- Tunneling nanotubes: a new dimension of intercellular communication and recent progress.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Review
- Glycolysis inhibition in tuberculosis-driven metabolic rewiring reduces HIV-1 spread in macrophages.Life science alliance · 2026Article
- Onion-Mitochondria Inhibit Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Acute Lung Injury by Shaping Lung Macrophage Mitochondrial Function.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Effect of chemotherapeutic drugs and cytochalasin B on tunneling nanotubes in U87 MG cells.BMC cancer · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Phenotypic Heterogeneity, Bidirectionality, Universal Cues, Plasticity, Mechanics, and the Tumor Microenvironment Drive Cancer Metastasis.Biomolecules · 2024Review
- Mechanisms of Intracellular Communication in Cancer and Pathogen Spreading.Results and problems in cell differentiation · 2024Review
- Intercellular mitochondrial transfer in the brain, a new perspective for targeted treatment of central nervous system diseases.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2023Review
- The role of tunneling nanotubes during early stages of HIV infection and reactivation: implications in HIV cure.NeuroImmune pharmacology and therapeutics · 2023Review
- Macrophages Promote Tumor Cell Extravasation across an Endothelial Barrier through Thin Membranous Connections.Cancers · 2023Article
- Article
- Targeting CAM-DR and Mitochondrial Transfer for the Treatment of Multiple Myeloma.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2022Review
- A Novel Cartesian Plot Analysis for Fixed Monolayers That Relates Cell Phenotype to Transfer of Contents between Fibroblasts and Cancer Cells by Cell-Projection Pumping.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Article
- Enhanced Expression of TRAP1 Protects Mitochondrial Function in Motor Neurons under Conditions of Oxidative Stress.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Specialized Intercellular Communications via Tunnelling Nanotubes in Acute and Chronic Leukemia.Cancers · 2022Review
- Hematopoietic stem and progenitors cells gene editing: Beyond blood disorders.Frontiers in genome editing · 2022Review
- Miro proteins and their role in mitochondrial transfer in cancer and beyond.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Review
- Cell-Projection Pumping of Fibroblast Contents into Osteosarcoma SAOS-2 Cells Correlates with Increased SAOS-2 Proliferation and Migration, as well as Altered Morphology.Biomolecules · 2021Article
10 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Tunneling nanotubes are actin-based cytoplasmic extensions that function as intercellular channels in a wide variety of cell types.There is a renewed and keen interest in the examination of modes of intercellular communication in cells of all types, especially in the field of cancer biology. Tunneling nanotubes -which in the literature have also been referred to as "membrane nanotubes," "'intercellular' or 'epithelial' bridges," or "cytoplasmic extensions" - are under active investigation for their role in facilitating direct intercellular communication. These structures have not, until recently, been scrutinized as a unique and previously unrecognized form of direct cell-to-cell transmission of cellular cargo in the context of human cancer. Our recent study of tunneling nanotubes in human malignant pleural mesothelioma and lung adenocarcinomas demonstrated efficient transfer of cellular contents, including proteins, Golgi vesicles, and mitochondria, between cells derived from several well-established cancer cell lines. Further, we provided effective demonstration that such nanotubes can form between primary malignant cells from human patients. For the first time, we also demonstrated the in vivo relevance of these structures in humans, having effectively imaged nanotubes in intact solid tumors from patients. Here we provide further analysis and discussion on our findings, and offer a prospective 'road map' for studying tunneling nanotubes in the context of human cancer. We hope that further understanding of the mechanisms, methods of transfer, and particularly the role of nanotubes in tumor-stromal cross-talk will lead to identification of new selective targets for cancer therapeutics.
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.