ArticleOncotarget2017
Pirfenidone normalizes the tumor microenvironment to improve chemotherapy.
Article in Oncotarget, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 113 papers.
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Who cites it
113 citing papers in PubMed, 177 citations in OpenAlex.
- Spatial transcriptomics identifies a suppressive, T-cell-excluded tumor microenvironment in extramedullary myeloma.Blood advances · 2026Article
- Pirfenidone treatment attenuates fibrosis in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.JCI insight · 2026Article
- SERPINH1 expression represents a reliable biomarker of human breast cancer aggressiveness.Biology direct · 2026Article
- Mechano-regulation of cancer cell memory in tumor progression and therapy.Mechanobiology in medicine · 2026Review
- Pirfenidone attenuates urethral stricture after injury by inhibiting Gli2 mediated HAS2 expression in fibroblasts.Journal of molecular histology · 2026Article
- Review
- Modulating tumor mechanics and vascular barriers to enhance chemotherapy efficacy in pancreatic tumors and melanoma.Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society · 2026Article
- Enhancing nanomedicine efficacy in KPC pancreatic tumors through ketotifen-mediated tumor microenvironment remodeling.Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society · 2026Article
- Ferroptosis as a Novel Therapeutic Strategy to Overcome Multidrug Resistance in Colorectal Cancer.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Deep learning prediction of chemo-immunotherapy response using tumor perfusion ultrasound images.Frontiers in artificial intelligence · 2026Article
- Prescription FINO2 and Pirfenidone Supported in Reducing Fibrosis in Mouse Breast Tumor Tissue by Targeting SLC7A11 and HMOX1.Current topics in medicinal chemistry · 2026Article
- Beyond Structure: The Dynamic Role of the Extracellular Matrix Components in Immune Evasion.Cancer communications (London, England) · 2026Review
- Atomic Force Microscopy-Based Nanomechanical Signatures for Staging Classification and Drug Response in Pulmonary Fibrosis.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025Article
- Optimizing therapeutic outcomes with Mechanotherapy and Ultrasound Sonopermeation in solid tumors.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- The unexplored mechanism of antitumoral effect of pirfenidone in melanoma cells.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Sonopermeation combined with stroma normalization enables complete cure using nano-immunotherapy in murine breast tumors.Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society · 2025Article
- Cancer associated fibroblasts in cancer development and therapy.Journal of hematology & oncology · 2025Review
- Inhibiting fibronectin assembly in the breast tumor microenvironment increases cell death and improves response to doxorubicin.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Targeting p38γ synergistically enhances sorafenib-induced cytotoxicity in hepatocellular carcinoma.Cell biology and toxicology · 2025Article
- Synergistic mechanotherapy and sonopermeation guided by mathematical modeling for solid tumor treatment.Frontiers in drug delivery · 2025Article
53 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
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Normalization of the tumor microenvironment by selectively targeting components of the tumor extracellular matrix has been recently proposed to have the potential to decompress tumor blood vessels, increase vessel perfusion and thus, improve drug delivery and the efficacy of cancer therapy. Therefore, we now need to identify safe and well tolerated pharmaceutical agents that are able to remodel the microenvironment of solid tumors and enhance chemotherapy. In this study, we repurposed Pirfenidone, a clinically approved anti-fibrotic drug for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, to investigate its possible role on tumor microenvironment normalization. Using two orthotopic mammary tumor models we demonstrate that Pirfenidone reduces collagen and hyaluronan levels and, as a result, significantly increases blood vessel functionality and perfusion and improves the anti-tumor efficacy of doxorubicin. Reduction of extracellular matrix components were mediated via TGFβ signaling pathway inhibition due to downregulation of TGFβ1, COL1A1, COL3A1, HAS2, HAS3 expression levels. Our findings provide evidence that repurposing Pirfenidone could be used as a promising strategy to enhance drug delivery to solid tumors by normalizing the tumor microenvironment.
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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.