Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37726969›Full record

ArticleThoracic cancer2023

Extracellular shuttling miR-21 contributes to esophageal cancers and human umbilical vein endothelial cell communication in the tumor microenvironment and promotes tumor angiogenesis by targeting phosphatase and tensinhomolog.

Shanbo Zheng, Juan Liao, Mingjun Sun, Ran Liu, Junjie Lv

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Thoracic cancer, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
1.8field-weighted citation impact, top 14% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. MiR-21 modulatesNon-coding RNA research · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Exosomes, autophagy, and cancer: A complex triad.International journal of cancer · 2025
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Exosomes in esophageal cancer: function and therapeutic prospects.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2024
    Review
  9. Review
  10. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Shanbo ZhengDepartment of Thoracic Surgery and State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Juan LiaoKey Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China.
Mingjun SunKey Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China.
Ran LiuKey Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China.
Junjie LvDepartment of Thoracic Surgery and State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0000-0002-3502-7014
Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University · CNSoutheast University · CNHangzhou First People's Hospital · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCell-cell communication by carcinoma-derived exosomes can influence the tumor microenvironment (TME) and regulate cancer progression. Based on the overexpression of microRNA-21-5p (miR-21) in plasma from patients diagnosed with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and exosomes from ESCC cell lines identified earlier, this study aimed to explore the influence of exosomal miR-21 within the TME.

methodScRNA-Seq and Bulk RNA-Seq were integrated to elucidate the communication between cancer and endothelial cells. The functionality and mechanisms by which exo-miR-21 derived from carcinoma regulate endothelial cell-mediated angiogenesis were assessed using a cocultivation model of EC9706 cells and recipient human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), through blood vessel formation experiments, luciferase reporter assays, RT-qPCR, and western blot analysis.

resultA total of 3842 endothelial cells were extracted from the scRNA-seq data of ESCC samples and reclustered into five cell subtype. Cell-cell communication analysis revealed cancer cells presented a strong interaction with angiogenesis-like endothelial cells in secreted signaling. MiR-21 was unregulated in ESCC and the carcinoma-derived exo-miR-21 was significantly raised in HUVECs. The exo-miR-21 promoted the proliferation and migration of HUVECs while also enhancing, closed mesh count, and junction number in HUVECs. Mechanistically, dual-luciferase reporter assay revealed that PTEN was the target of miR-21. Meanwhile, p-Akt was significantly increased and suppressed by inhibition of miR-21 and PI3K inhibitor LY294002.

conclusionExo-miR-21-mediated communication between endothelial and cancer cells plays a pivotal role in promoting the angiogenesis of ESCC. Therefore, controlling exo-miR-21 could serve as a novel therapeutic strategy for ESCC by targeting angiogenesis.

Indexed as

Esophageal NeoplasmsEsophageal Squamous Cell CarcinomaMicroRNAsCell Line, TumorCell ProliferationCommunicationHumansHuman Umbilical Vein Endothelial CellsLuciferasesNeovascularization, PathologicPhosphatidylinositol 3-KinasesTumor MicroenvironmentLuciferasesMicroRNAsMIRN21 microRNA, humanPhosphatidylinositol 3-KinasesangiogenesisESCCexo-miR-21PTEN/AktscRNA-seq

Identifiers

PMID37726969
PMCPMC10626251
OpenAlexW4386878162

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.