Evidence mapPaperPMID 39944834Full record

ArticleFrontiers in oncology2025

Investigating the role of cathepsins in breast cancer progression: a Mendelian randomization study.

Shengyi Zhou, Yizhou Sun, Wenzhang Zha, Guangjun Zhou

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in oncology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing 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

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Cathepsin Z/X: Breaking Down the Known and Unknown.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Review
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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

4 authors.

Shengyi ZhouThe First People's Hospital of Yancheng, Yancheng, China.
Yizhou SunThe First People's Hospital of Yancheng, Yancheng, China.
Wenzhang ZhaThe First People's Hospital of Yancheng, Yancheng, China.
Guangjun ZhouThe First People's Hospital of Yancheng, Yancheng, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer, a major threat to women's health worldwide, has mechanisms of onset that remain unclear. Within the human lysosomal system, a class of enzymes known as cathepsins exhibit elevated expression levels in various malignant tumors, suggesting that they may play key roles in cancer progression. Methods: This study employed the two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) approach to investigate the potential causal relationship between cathepsin levels and the risk of developing breast cancer. Furthermore, we conducted MR analysis using eQTL data to investigate how gene expression, mediated by cathepsins, affects the occurrence of different types of breast cancer and assessed the regulatory effects of cathepsins. Results: MR analysis revealed that increased levels of cathepsin E are associated with a greater risk of malignant breast tumors (IVW: p = 0.006, OR = 1.103, 95% CI = 1.028-1.184), and increased levels of cathepsin F are associated with an increased risk of Discussion: These findings highlight the dual roles of cathepsins as potential risk and protective factors for breast cancer, underscoring their potential in diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

Indexed as

breast cancercathepsineQTL analysismediation effectMendelian randomization

Identifiers

PMID39944834
PMCPMC11815281

What Socratic holds

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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 Socratic graph.