Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40604231›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

Analysis of an engineered organoid model of pancreatic cancer identifies hypoxia as a contributing factor in determining transcriptional subtypes.

Natalie Landon-Brace, Simon Latour, Brendan T Innes, Michelle Nurse, Jose L Cadavid, Ileana L Co, Cassidy M Tan, Ferris Nowlan, Sibyl Drissler, Faiyaz Notta and 3 more

Erratum issuedAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Organoids for disease modeling and treatment: state-of-the-art.Experimental hematology & oncology · 2026
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Natalie Landon-BraceInstitute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Simon LatourInstitute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Brendan T InnesDepartment of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Michelle NurseDepartment of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Jose L CadavidDepartment of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Ileana L CoInstitute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Cassidy M TanInstitute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Ferris NowlanLunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health, Toronto, Canada.
Sibyl DrisslerLunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health, Toronto, Canada.
Faiyaz NottaPrincess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada.
Hartland Warren JacksonLunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health, Toronto, Canada.
Gary D BaderDepartment of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Alison P McGuiganInstitute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. alison.mcguigan@utoronto.ca.

Funding

CIHR PJT-17528
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a high-mortality cancer characterized by its aggressive, treatment-resistant phenotype and a complex tumour microenvironment (TME) featuring significant hypoxia. Bulk transcriptomic analysis has identified the "classical" and "basal-like" transcriptional subtypes which have prognostic value; however, it is not well-established how microenvironmental heterogeneity contributes to these transcriptional signatures. Here, we exploited the TRACER platform to perform single cell transcriptome analysis of organoids at specific spatial locations to explore the effect of oxygen and other cell-generated microenvironmental gradients on organoid heterogeneity. We found that the microenvironmental gradients present in TRACER significantly impact the distribution of organoid transcriptional phenotypes and the enrichment of gene sets linked to cancer progression and treatment resistance. More significantly, we found that microenvironmental gradients, predominantly oxygen, drive changes in the expression of classical and basal-like transcriptional subtype gene signatures. This work suggests that hypoxia contributes to determining transcriptional subtypes in PDAC tumour cells independent of additional cells in the TME and broadly highlights the importance of considering microenvironmental gradients such as oxygen in organoid-based studies.

Indexed as

Carcinoma, Pancreatic DuctalHypoxiaOrganoidsPancreatic NeoplasmsCell HypoxiaCell Line, TumorGene Expression ProfilingGene Expression Regulation, NeoplasticHumansOxygenTranscriptomeTumor MicroenvironmentOxygen

Identifiers

PMID40604231
PMCPMC12223171

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.