ArticleNature medicine2017
Direct evidence for cancer-cell-autonomous extracellular protein catabolism in pancreatic tumors.
Article in Nature medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 221 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
221 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 328 citations in OpenAlex.
- Preventive and Therapeutic effects of Metformin in Cancer: A Meta- Analysis of RCT and Cohort Studies.Current cancer drug targets · 2026Pooled it
- Lysosomal metabolism in pancreatic cancer and its crosstalk with host physiology.Genes & development · 2026Review
- Beyond the Fixed Charge: A New On-Tissue Derivatisation Strategy Employing Photoionisable Chromophores for Mass Spectrometry Imaging of Amino-Containing Metabolites.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
- Dual targeting of SLC6A14 and autophagy/macropinocytosis enhances therapeutic efficacy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.The Biochemical journal · 2026Article
- Metabolic pathway signatures define prognostic subtypes of lung adenocarcinoma.Discover oncology · 2026Article
- Ras promotes macropinocytic nutrient uptake by suppressing the albumin recycling receptor FcRn.EMBO reports · 2026Article
- Nitrogen Isotope Effects in Urea Metabolism: From Biochemistry toInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Metabolic plasticity in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma progression and response to treatment.Molecular cancer · 2026Review
- PHGDH is a targetable driver of PDAC progression.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Targeting macropinocytosis for cancer therapy.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2026Review
- The extracellular matrix drives guanylate production and protects pancreatic cancer cells from oxaliplatin-induced DNA damage.Science advances · 2025Article
- Catabolic rewiring in cancer impacts dietary interventions.Communications biology · 2025Review
- The integral membrane protein smim4 modulates redox balance via malate compartmentalization in pancreatic cancer.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Impact of Serum Albumin Levels on Prognosis and Recurrence in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma.Cancers · 2025Article
- Macropinocytosis maintains CAF subtype identity under metabolic stress in pancreatic cancer.Cancer cell · 2025Article
- Nanocarriers for Combination Therapy in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: A Comprehensive Review.Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- What's on the menu?: metabolic constraints in the pancreatic tumor microenvironment.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Review
- Urea cycle dysregulation: a new frontier in cancer metabolism and immune evasion.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2025Review
- GOT2: New therapeutic target in pancreatic cancer.Genes & diseases · 2025Review
- Cellular Uptake of Hybrid PLGA-Lipid Gadolinium Nanoparticles Functionalized for Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Cells.ACS nanoscience Au · 2025Article
161 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
21 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Mammalian tissues rely on a variety of nutrients to support their physiological functions. It is known that altered metabolism is involved in the pathogenesis of cancer, but which nutrients support the inappropriate growth of intact malignant tumors is incompletely understood. Amino acids are essential nutrients for many cancer cells that can be obtained through the scavenging and catabolism of extracellular protein via macropinocytosis. In particular, macropinocytosis can be a nutrient source for pancreatic cancer cells, but it is not fully understood how the tumor environment influences metabolic phenotypes and whether macropinocytosis supports the maintenance of amino acid levels within pancreatic tumors. Here we utilize miniaturized plasma exchange to deliver labeled albumin to tissues in live mice, and we demonstrate that breakdown of albumin contributes to the supply of free amino acids in pancreatic tumors. We also deliver albumin directly into tumors using an implantable microdevice, which was adapted and modified from ref. 9. Following implantation, we directly observe protein catabolism and macropinocytosis in situ by pancreatic cancer cells, but not by adjacent, non-cancerous pancreatic tissue. In addition, we find that intratumoral inhibition of macropinocytosis decreases amino acid levels. Taken together, these data suggest that pancreatic cancer cells consume extracellular protein, including albumin, and that this consumption serves as an important source of amino acids for pancreatic cancer cells in vivo.
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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.