ArticleToxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology2015
Tungsten targets the tumor microenvironment to enhance breast cancer metastasis.
Article in Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Leveraging Morphological Profiling for Mechanistic Elucidation of Metal-Based Anticancer Compounds.JACS Au · 2026Article
- Exposome-wide association study of cognition among older adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Exposome · 2025Article
- Exposome-wide association study of cognition among older adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
- Exploring the intricate relationship between miRNA dysregulation and breast cancer development: insights into the impact of environmental chemicals.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- Tungsten toxicity on kidney tubular epithelial cells induces renal inflammation and M1-macrophage polarization.Cell biology and toxicology · 2023Article
- In vitro analysis of the cytotoxic effect of two different sizes ITER-like tungsten nanoparticles on human dermal fibroblasts.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Tungsten toxicity and carcinogenesis.Advances in pharmacology (San Diego, Calif.) · 2023Article
- Inhalation of Tungsten Metal Particulates Alters the Lung and Bone Microenvironments Following Acute Exposure.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 2021Article
- Tungsten Increases Sex-Specific Osteoclast Differentiation in Murine Bone.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 2021Article
- Environmental chemicals, breast cancer progression and drug resistance.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2020Review
- Serum-borne factors alter cerebrovascular endothelial microRNA expression following particulate matter exposure near an abandoned uranium mine on the Navajo Nation.Particle and fibre toxicology · 2020Article
- Comparative Assessment of Tungsten Toxicity in the Absence or Presence of Other Metals.Toxics · 2018Review
- Original Research: Evaluation of pulmonary response to inhaled tungsten (IV) oxide nanoparticles in golden Syrian hamsters.Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.) · 2017Article
- Tungsten: an Emerging Toxicant, Alone or in Combination.Current environmental health reports · 2016Review
- Immunotoxic effects of sodium tungstate dihydrate on female B6C3F1/N mice when administered in drinking water.Journal of immunotoxicology · 2016Article
- Tungsten Promotes Sex-Specific Adipogenesis in the Bone by Altering Differentiation of Bone Marrow-Resident Mesenchymal Stromal Cells.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 2016Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The number of individuals exposed to high levels of tungsten is increasing, yet there is limited knowledge of the potential human health risks. Recently, a cohort of breast cancer patients was left with tungsten in their breasts following testing of a tungsten-based shield during intraoperative radiotherapy. While monitoring tungsten levels in the blood and urine of these patients, we utilized the 66Cl4 cell model, in vitro and in mice to study the effects of tungsten exposure on mammary tumor growth and metastasis. We still detect tungsten in the urine of patients' years after surgery (mean urinary tungsten concentration at least 20 months post-surgery = 1.76 ng/ml), even in those who have opted for mastectomy, indicating that tungsten does not remain in the breast. In addition, standard chelation therapy was ineffective at mobilizing tungsten. In the mouse model, tungsten slightly delayed primary tumor growth, but significantly enhanced lung metastasis. In vitro, tungsten did not enhance 66Cl4 proliferation or invasion, suggesting that tungsten was not directly acting on 66Cl4 primary tumor cells to enhance invasion. In contrast, tungsten changed the tumor microenvironment, enhancing parameters known to be important for cell invasion and metastasis including activated fibroblasts, matrix metalloproteinases, and myeloid-derived suppressor cells. We show, for the first time, that tungsten enhances metastasis in an animal model of breast cancer by targeting the microenvironment. Importantly, all these tumor microenvironmental changes are associated with a poor prognosis in humans.
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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.