ArticleOncotarget2017
Control of long-distance cell-to-cell communication and autophagosome transfer in squamous cell carcinoma via tunneling nanotubes.
Article in Oncotarget, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers.
What it found
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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
52 citing papers in PubMed, 88 citations in OpenAlex.
- Tunneling nanotubes regulate mitochondrial homeostasis between glioblastoma and astrocytes, and between tumor cells in vivo.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Tunneling nanotubes: a new dimension of intercellular communication and recent progress.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Review
- From energy provision to protein synthesis: Tunnelling nanotubes as mediators of intercellular metabolic cooperation in cancer.FEBS open bio · 2026Review
- Building the bridges: molecular mechanisms of tunneling nanotube formation.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2026Review
- Breaking cellular boundaries: molecular mechanisms of tunneling nanotube formation and fusion.Biochemical Society transactions · 2026Review
- CD13 activation assembles phosphoinositide (PI) signaling complexes to regulate the actin cytoskeleton.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Nano- and Microtubes: Tiny Fusion Events but Not Overall Plasma Membrane Merger for Exchanging Intracellular Components.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Mechanisms of Mitochondrial Transfer Through TNTs: From Organelle Dynamics to Cellular Crosstalk.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Tunneling Nanotube-Mediated Transcellular Autophagy Alleviates Cadmium Induced Hepatocyte Injury.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Interplay between tunneling nanotubes and Wnt Signaling: Insights into cytoskeletal regulation and therapeutic potential.Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2025Review
- Deciphering Mitochondria: Unveiling Their Roles in Mechanosensing and Mechanotransduction.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Review
- Horizontal mitochondrial transfer as a novel bioenergetic tool for mesenchymal stromal/stem cells: molecular mechanisms and therapeutic potential in a variety of diseases.Journal of translational medicine · 2024Review
- Article
- Tunneling Nanotubes: The Cables for Viral Spread and Beyond.Results and problems in cell differentiation · 2024Review
- Intercellular Highways in Transport Processes.Results and problems in cell differentiation · 2024Review
- Tunneling Nanotubes in the Brain.Results and problems in cell differentiation · 2024Review
- The direct transfer approach for transcellular drug delivery.Drug delivery · 2023Review
- HGF/c-Met/β1-integrin signalling axis induces tunneling nanotubes in A549 lung adenocarcinoma cells.Life science alliance · 2023Article
- Protective effect of the tunneling nanotube-TNFAIP2/M-sec system on podocyte autophagy in diabetic nephropathy.Autophagy · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Tunneling nanotubes (TnTs) are thin channels that temporally connect nearby cells allowing the cell-to-cell trafficking of biomolecules and organelles. The presence or absence of TnTs in human neoplasms and the mechanisms of TnT assembly remains largely unexplored. In this study, we have identified TnTs in tumor cells derived from squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) cultured under bi-dimensional and tri-dimensional conditions and also in human SCC tissues. Our study demonstrates that TnTs are not specific of epithelial or mesenchymal phenotypes and allow the trafficking of endosomal/lysosomal vesicles, mitochondria, and autophagosomes between both types of cells. We have identified focal adhesion kinase (FAK) as a key molecule required for TnT assembly via a mechanism involving the MMP-2 metalloprotease. We have also found that the FAK inhibitor PF-562271, which is currently in clinical development for cancer treatment, impairs TnT formation. Finally, FAK-deficient cells transfer lysosomes/autophagosomes to FAK-proficient cells via TnTs which may represent a novel mechanism to adapt to the stress elicited by impaired FAK signaling. Collectively, our results strongly suggest a link between FAK, MMP-2, and TnT, and unveil new vulnerabilities that can be exploited to efficiently eradicate cancer cells.
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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.