Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25314052›Full record

ArticleBritish journal of cancer2014

Spontaneous dormancy of metastatic breast cancer cells in an all human liver microphysiologic system.

S E Wheeler, A M Clark, D P Taylor, C L Young, V C Pillai, D B Stolz, R Venkataramanan, D Lauffenburger, L Griffith, A Wells

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in British journal of cancer, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
67citing papers in PubMed
3.9field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

67 citing papers in PubMed, 98 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. A Novel Zebrafish Liver-Specific Metastasis Model Reveals c-Met as a Driver of Liver Tropism.Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Cancer metastasisFrontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2026
    Review
  6. Review
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Review
  11. Review
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Review
  16. Review
  17. Modeling Tumor Cell Dormancy in an Ex Vivo Liver Metastatic Niche.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2024
    Article
  18. Review
  19. Review
  20. Review

7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

S E WheelerDepartment of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, S711 Scaife Hall, 3550 Terrace Street, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
A M ClarkDepartment of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, S711 Scaife Hall, 3550 Terrace Street, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
D P Taylor1] Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, S711 Scaife Hall, 3550 Terrace Street, Pittsburgh, PA, USA [2] Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
C L YoungDepartment of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
V C PillaiDepartment of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
D B Stolz1] Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, S711 Scaife Hall, 3550 Terrace Street, Pittsburgh, PA, USA [2] Department of Cell Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA [3] McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA [4] University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
R Venkataramanan1] Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, S711 Scaife Hall, 3550 Terrace Street, Pittsburgh, PA, USA [2] Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
D LauffenburgerDepartment of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
L GriffithDepartment of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
A Wells1] Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, S711 Scaife Hall, 3550 Terrace Street, Pittsburgh, PA, USA [2] Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA [3] McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA [4] University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, USA [5] Pittsburgh VA Medical Center, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
University of Pittsburgh · USMassachusetts Institute of Technology · US

Funding

VIRUS PRODUCTION COREP30CA014051 · NCI · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI MATTHEW G. VANDER HEIDEN · 1985 to 2026
$93.9M
Probing the Role of the Tumor Microenvironment on Mechanistic Biomarkers for Chemotherapeutic ResistanceUH3TR000496 · NCATS · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI GRIFFITH, LINDA G · 2014 to 2016
$3.5M
All-Human Microphysical Model of Metastasis TherapyUH2TR000496 · NCATS · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI GRIFFITH, LINDA G · 2012 to 2013
$2.3M
NCATS NIH HHS 1UH2TR000496-01NCATS NIH HHS UH2 TR000496NCATS NIH HHS UH3 TR000496NCI NIH HHS P30 CA014051
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMetastatic outgrowth in breast cancer can occur years after a seeming cure. Existing model systems of dormancy are limited as they do not recapitulate human metastatic dormancy without exogenous manipulations and are unable to query early events of micrometastases.

methodsHere, we describe a human ex vivo hepatic microphysiologic system. The system is established with fresh human hepatocytes and non-parenchymal cells (NPCs) creating a microenvironment into which breast cancer cells (MCF7 and MDA-MB-231) are added.

resultsThe hepatic tissue maintains function through 15 days as verified by liver-specific protein production and drug metabolism assays. The NPCs form an integral part of the hepatic niche, demonstrated within the system through their participation in differential signalling cascades and cancer cell outcomes. Breast cancer cells intercalate into the hepatic niche without interfering with hepatocyte function. Examination of cancer cells demonstrated that a significant subset enter a quiescent state of dormancy as shown by lack of cell cycling (EdU(-) or Ki67(-)). The presence of NPCs altered the cancer cell fraction entering quiescence, and lead to differential cytokine profiles in the microenvironment effluent.

conclusionsThese findings establish the liver microphysiologic system as a relevant model for the study of breast cancer metastases and entry into dormancy.

Indexed as

Breast NeoplasmsCell Line, TumorFemaleHumansLiver NeoplasmsNeoplasm MetastasisTransfectionTumor Microenvironment

Identifiers

PMID25314052
PMCPMC4264444
OpenAlexW1970769387

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-SA
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.