ReviewBritish journal of cancer2021
Breast cancer as an example of tumour heterogeneity and tumour cell plasticity during malignant progression.
Review in British journal of cancer, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 262 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
262 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Role of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Modulating Inflammation and Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review of In Vitro, Animal, and Human Studies.Current oncology reports · 2026Pooled it
- Deciphering the biological underpinnings behind prognostic MRI-based imaging signatures in breast cancer: a systematic review.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Shorter telomere length as a prognostic marker for survival and recurrence in breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Exploration of targeted anti-tumor therapy · 2025Pooled it
- Circulating tumour DNA dynamics during alternating chemotherapy and hormonal therapy in metastatic breast cancer: the ALERT study.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2024Trial
- Sulfated Hyaluronan Drives Cell Adaptation and Matrix Composition in Advanced 3D Breast Cancer Cell Models.Cells · 2026Article
- Contact percolation governs collective motility via mechano-chemical feedback in heterogeneous breast cancer.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Neuron-Associated Transcriptional Enrichment Is Associated with Distinct Biological States and Predicts Poor Prognosis in Gastric Cancer.Annals of surgical oncology · 2026Article
- Saliency-Curated Deep Learning for Predicting Receptor Status in Breast Cancer Brain Metastases.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Adipose-mimetic granular hydrogels uncover biophysical cues driving breast cancer invasion.Cell biomaterials · 2026Article
- Single-cell transcriptomics and functional validation reveal a TUBB4B-associated malignant epithelial state in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- A Small Natural Molecule Targeting IL-23/IL-17 Axis Exerts Dual Effects on T-Cell Function and Breast Cancer Cell Migration.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Determinants of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer: Integrated roles of immune pathways, DNA damage response, and cell cycle regulators.Molecular biology reports · 2026Review
- Multiple distinct metastatic cell states are induced by epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Tumor heterogeneity: development, mechanisms, and therapeutic implications.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Review
- Amplification of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A/B aids in immune infiltration regulation and breast cancer tumorigenesis.Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2026Article
- Toward More Translational Tumor Models: Breast dECM-Based 3D Systems Capture Native Microenvironmental Cues.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Dual Paper-Based Electrochemical Device for Multiplex Detection of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer miRNA Signatures.Analytical chemistry · 2026Article
- Arctigenin Suppresses Breast Cancer Growth In Vitro and In Vivo Through Subtype-Specific Multi-Targeting Activity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Biological basis and clinical translation prospects of circulating cell-free DNA in precision management of breast cancer (Review).Oncology letters · 2026Review
- Multidimensional MRI radiomics-based model predicts recurrence risk in triple-negative breast cancer.NPJ precision oncology · 2026Article
202 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Heterogeneity within a tumour increases its ability to adapt to constantly changing constraints, but adversely affects a patient's prognosis, therapy response and clinical outcome. Intratumoural heterogeneity results from a combination of extrinsic factors from the tumour microenvironment and intrinsic parameters from the cancer cells themselves, including their genetic, epigenetic and transcriptomic traits, their ability to proliferate, migrate and invade, and their stemness and plasticity attributes. Cell plasticity constitutes the ability of cancer cells to rapidly reprogramme their gene expression repertoire, to change their behaviour and identities, and to adapt to microenvironmental cues. These features also directly contribute to tumour heterogeneity and are critical for malignant tumour progression. In this article, we use breast cancer as an example of the origins of tumour heterogeneity (in particular, the mutational spectrum and clonal evolution of progressing tumours) and of tumour cell plasticity (in particular, that shown by tumour cells undergoing epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition), as well as considering interclonal cooperativity and cell plasticity as sources of cancer cell heterogeneity. We review current knowledge on the functional contribution of cell plasticity and tumour heterogeneity to malignant tumour progression, metastasis formation and therapy resistance.
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