Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40925952›Full record

ArticleNature cell biology2025

Durotaxis is a driver and potential therapeutic target in lung fibrosis and metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Taslim A Al-Hilal, Maria-Anna Chrysovergi, Paula E Grasberger, Fei Liu, Vera Auernheimer, Yan Zhou, Zebin Xiao, Mark Anthony Leon-Duque, Alba Santos, Tamanna Islam and 22 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature cell biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing 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

15 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Review
  5. Microengineered Gradient Hydrogels for Mechanobiology.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Review
  9. Physiomimetic culture bias durotaxis toward soft environments.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  10. Mechanobiology and Resolution of Lung Fibrosis.Annual review of physiology · 2026
    Review
  11. Review
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. 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

32 authors.

Taslim A Al-Hilal *Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Maria-Anna Chrysovergi *Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0007-4139-4666
Paula E GrasbergerDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Fei LiuDepartment of Environmental Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5774-310X
Vera AuernheimerFriedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Yan ZhouDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Zebin XiaoDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3311-7403
Mark Anthony Leon-DuqueDepartment of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6894-2980
Alba SantosDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Tamanna IslamDepartment of Molecular Pharmaceutics and Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Matteo LigorioMassachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA.
Delphine SicardDepartment of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1062-6205
Clemens K ProbstDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Vladimir VrbanacCenter for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Tejaswini S ReddiMass General Brigham Innovation, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6616-9138
Ludovic VincentChien-Lay Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Cassandra HappeChien-Lay Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Edward ChaumDepartment of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Vanderbilt Eye Institute, Nashville, TN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3542-8376
Charles R YatesNational Center for Natural Products Research, The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, Oxford, MS, USA.
Kaveh DaneshvarLiver Center, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7863-0489
Allan C MullenLiver Center, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4096-3106
David TingMassachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3261-2322
Eric S WhiteBoehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ridgefield, CT, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4060-8443
Raghu KalluriDepartment of Cancer Biology, Metastasis Research Center, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2190-547X
Christina M WooDepartment of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8687-9105
Ellen PuréDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2107-3711
Wolfgang H GoldmannFriedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0738-2665
Jose Luis AlonsoDepartment of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Andrew M TagerDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Adam J EnglerChien-Lay Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1642-5380
Daniel J TschumperlinDepartment of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
David LagaresDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. david.lagares@sloan.mit.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7317-8796

Funding

Mechanobiology of Lung FibrosisR01HL092961 · NHLBI · MAYO CLINIC ROCHESTER · PI Daniel J. Tschumperlin · 2009 to 2026
$8.0M
Targeting durotaxis in lung injury and fibrosisR01HL157384 · NHLBI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI MEDOFF, BENJAMIN DAVID · 2022 to 2025
$2.3M
Targeting the ADAM10-sEphrin-B2 pathway in pulmonary fibrosisR01HL147059 · NHLBI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI MEDOFF, BENJAMIN DAVID · 2019 to 2023
$2.1M
NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL092961NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL147059NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL157384U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) RO1 HL092961
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Durotaxis, cell migration along stiffness gradients, is linked to embryonic development, tissue repair and disease. Despite solid in vitro evidence, its role in vivo remains largely speculative. Here we demonstrate that durotaxis actively drives disease progression in vivo in mouse models of lung fibrosis and metastatic pancreatic cancer. In lung fibrosis, durotaxis directs fibroblast recruitment to sites of injury, where they undergo mechano-activation into scar-forming myofibroblasts. In pancreatic cancer, stiffening of the tumour microenvironment induces durotaxis of cancer cells, promoting metastatic dissemination. Mechanistically, durotaxis is mediated by focal adhesion kinase (FAK)-paxillin interaction, a mechanosensory module that links stiffness cues to transcriptional programmes via YAP signalling. To probe this genetically, we generated a FAK-FAT

Indexed as

Cell MovementPancreatic NeoplasmsPulmonary FibrosisAnimalsCell Line, TumorDisease Models, AnimalFocal Adhesion Kinase 1HumansMechanotransduction, CellularMiceMice, Inbred C57BLMyofibroblastsPaxillinTumor MicroenvironmentYAP-Signaling ProteinsFocal Adhesion Kinase 1PaxillinPtk2 protein, mousePxn protein, mouseYap1 protein, mouseYAP-Signaling Proteins

Identifiers

PMID40925952
PMCPMC12431851

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.