ReviewNature reviews. Cancer2022
Connecting copper and cancer: from transition metal signalling to metalloplasia.
Review in Nature reviews. Cancer, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 723 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
723 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 1,215 citations in OpenAlex.
- Toxic Metal in Plant-Based Therapeutics: Contamination Pathways, Oxidative Stress Induction, and Onset of Disease.TheScientificWorldJournal · 2026Pooled it
- Coping with copper: a bibliometric analysis of copper's role in cancer pathogenesis and treatment.Systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- The Debated Issue on Tissue Copper Levels in Colorectal Cancer Patients: A Meta-analysis and Replication Study.Biological trace element research · 2025Pooled it
- Mitochondria-targeted peptide-engineered bimetallic nanozymes enable ferroptosis-sensitized cuproptosis for melanoma therapy.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Penfluridol directly targets PDPK1 to suppress AKT1 phosphorylation and stabilize CTR1, inducing cuproptosis in colorectal cancer.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2026Article
- GSH-responsive self-assembled nanoplatform synergistically enhances cuproptosis through metabolic reprogramming and oxidative stress amplification.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Chelation treatment in a novel sub-toxic multi-metal model in rats.Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2026Article
- Bio-Memristor Based on Clinical Bile Samples: A Proof-of-Concept Pilot Study for Detection of Gallbladder Cancer.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Cuproptosis in Ischemic Stroke: Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Potential.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- A Lipoylation-PDH-TCA Transcriptional Deficit in the Alzheimer's Disease Cortex - Donor-level Multi-cohort Evidence with Neuronal-composition, Disease-specificity and Matched-null Controls.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2026Article
- Harnessing copper-iron crosstalk: A novel strategy to combat hepatocellular carcinoma.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2026Review
- NIR-II Type I AIE Photosensitiser-Functionalized MOF-Cu Nanoplatform Promotes Ferroptosis and Cuproptosis for Antitumor Therapy.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Dual facets of copper in the malignant transformation of oral submucous fibrosis: A narrative review.Molecular biology reports · 2026Review
- Cuproplasia-associated LOXL2 cooperates withJournal of gastrointestinal oncology · 2026Article
- Review
- Engineering cuproptosis with nanomedicine: Design, combination therapy, and translation in cancer.Materials today. Bio · 2026Review
- Copper depletion boosts CNS leukemia therapy by inhibiting nucleotide synthesis through impairment of mitochondrial complex IV activity.Nature cancer · 2026Article
- FDX1 expression promotes DSF/Cu-induced cuproptosis in gastric cancer cells.Cancer biology & medicine · 2026Article
- Targeting Copper in Cancer: Chelators to Counteract Cuproplasia and Ionophores to Promote Cuproptosis.Journal of medicinal chemistry · 2026Review
- Copper homeostasis and cuproptosis rewire the tumor microenvironment: mechanisms, immune modulation, and therapeutic opportunities.Journal of hematology & oncology · 2026Review
663 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
24 authors at 20 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Copper is an essential nutrient whose redox properties make it both beneficial and toxic to the cell. Recent progress in studying transition metal signalling has forged new links between researchers of different disciplines that can help translate basic research in the chemistry and biology of copper into clinical therapies and diagnostics to exploit copper-dependent disease vulnerabilities. This concept is particularly relevant in cancer, as tumour growth and metastasis have a heightened requirement for this metal nutrient. Indeed, the traditional view of copper as solely an active site metabolic cofactor has been challenged by emerging evidence that copper is also a dynamic signalling metal and metalloallosteric regulator, such as for copper-dependent phosphodiesterase 3B (PDE3B) in lipolysis, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1 (MEK1) and MEK2 in cell growth and proliferation and the kinases ULK1 and ULK2 in autophagy. In this Perspective, we summarize our current understanding of the connection between copper and cancer and explore how challenges in the field could be addressed by using the framework of cuproplasia, which is defined as regulated copper-dependent cell proliferation and is a representative example of a broad range of metalloplasias. Cuproplasia is linked to a diverse array of cellular processes, including mitochondrial respiration, antioxidant defence, redox signalling, kinase signalling, autophagy and protein quality control. Identifying and characterizing new modes of copper-dependent signalling offers translational opportunities that leverage disease vulnerabilities to this metal nutrient.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.