ArticleMolecular biology of the cell2020
Tumor microtubes connect pancreatic cancer cells in an Arp2/3 complex-dependent manner.
Article in Molecular biology of the cell, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Targeting the hERG1/β1 integrin complex in lipid rafts potentiates statins anti-cancer activity in pancreatic cancer.Cell death discovery · 2025Article
- Proteogenomic analysis reveals Arp 2/3 complex as a common molecular mechanism in high risk pancreatic cysts and pancreatic cancer.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Potential Mechanism and Involvement of p120-Catenin in the Malignant Biology of Glioma.Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society · 2024Article
- Actin-related protein 2/3 complex subunit 1B promotes ovarian cancer progression by regulating the AKT/PI3K/mTOR signaling pathway.Journal of translational internal medicine · 2024Article
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- Intercellular Highways in Transport Processes.Results and problems in cell differentiation · 2024Review
- Adopted neoplastic cells and the consequences of their existence.Oncotarget · 2023Article
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- The role of tumor neogenesis pipelines in tumor progression and their therapeutic potential.Cancer medicine · 2023Review
- Insights and opportunities at the crossroads of cancer and neuroscience.Nature cell biology · 2022Review
- Disconnecting multicellular networks in brain tumours.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2022Review
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- Therapeutic avenues for cancer neuroscience: translational frontiers and clinical opportunities.The Lancet. Oncology · 2022Review
- Molecular, morphological and functional properties of tunnelling nanotubes between normal and cancer urothelial cells: New insights from theFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Article
- Miro proteins and their role in mitochondrial transfer in cancer and beyond.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Review
- Role of Tunneling Nanotube-like Structures during the Early Events of HIV Infection: Novel Features of Tissue Compartmentalization and Mechanism of HIV Spread.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
Actin-based tubular connections between cells have been observed in many cell types. Termed "tunneling nanotubes (TNTs)," "membrane nanotubes," "tumor microtubes (TMTs)," or "cytonemes," these protrusions interconnect cells in dynamic networks. Structural features in these protrusions vary between cellular systems, including tubule diameter and the presence of microtubules. We find tubular protrusions, which we classify as TMTs, in a pancreatic cancer cell line, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Pancreatic Cancer (DHPC)-018. TMTs are present in DHPC-018-derived tumors in mice, as well as in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer and a subset of primary human tumors. DHPC-018 TMTs have heterogeneous diameter (0.39-5.85 µm, median 1.92 µm) and contain actin filaments, microtubules, and cytokeratin 19-based intermediate filaments. TMTs do not allow intercellular transfer of cytoplasmic GFP. Actin filaments are cortical within the protrusion, as opposed to TNTs, in which filaments run down the center. TMTs are dynamic in length, but are long lived (median >60 min). Inhibition of actin polymerization, but not microtubules, results in TMT loss. Extracellular calcium is necessary for TMT maintenance. A second class of tubular protrusion, which we term cell-substrate protrusion, has similar width range and cytoskeletal features but makes contact with the substratum as opposed to another cell. Similar to previous work on TNTs, we find two assembly mechanisms for TMTs, which we term "pull-away" and "search-and-capture." Inhibition of Arp2/3 complex inhibits TMT assembly by both mechanisms. This work demonstrates that the actin architecture of TMTs in pancreatic cancer cells is fundamentally different from that of TNTs and demonstrates the role of Arp2/3 complex in TMT assembly.
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