ArticleJournal of translational medicine2025
Hypoxic cancer-associated fibroblast exosomal circSTAT3 drives triple negative breast cancer stemness via miR-671-5p/NOTCH1 signaling.
Article in Journal of translational medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exosomal circular RNAs in the tumor immune microenvironment: From regulatory mechanisms to therapeutic opportunities and translational hurdles (Review).International journal of molecular medicine · 2026Review
- Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Promote Glucose Metabolic Reprogramming and Progression of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer via Exosomal circFAD104-Mediated Intercellular Communication.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Role of microRNAs in cisplatin response of cancer stem cells.Stem cell research & therapy · 2026Review
- Single-cell transcriptomic analysis reveals that the circRNA circGCLM promotes tumorigenesis and confers cisplatin resistance in NSCLC through the miR-505-3p/ERBB4 axis.Translational oncology · 2026Article
- Tumor exosomes impact functional hallmarks of cancer.Cancer metastasis reviews · 2026Review
- Role of cancer-associated fibroblast-derived exosomes in pancreatic cancer: clinical therapeutic potential and targeting challenges.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Functions and mechanisms of circular RNAs in cancer stem cells and therapy resistance.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Circular RNAs in Plasma and Beyond: Potential Biomarkers for Breast Cancer.Oncology research · 2026Review
- Orchestrating Tumor Metastasis: Exosomes as Master Regulators of the Local and Distant Microenvironment.International journal of biological sciences · 2026Review
- Exosomal miR-21 Derived from Paclitaxel-Resistant Breast Cancer Cells Promotes Chemoresistance in Breast Cancer via p53/PI3K/AKT/mTOR Signaling.Breast cancer (Dove Medical Press) · 2026Article
- Role and molecular mechanisms of hypoxia-derived exosomal miR-301a on gemcitabine resistance in pancreatic cancer.Oncology letters · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe hypoxic tumor microenvironment, particularly hypoxia-conditioned cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), drives breast cancer (BC) progression and therapy resistance. However, the molecular mechanisms linking hypoxic CAFs to BC plasticity and chemoresistance remain elusive.
methodsPrimary CAFs were isolated from high-grade BC tissues (Grade III) and characterized (α-SMA⁺/CD34⁻/pan-CK⁻), with normal fibroblasts (NFs) from reduction mammoplasty as controls. Hypoxic CAF-derived exosomal circSTAT3 stability was validated using RNase R resistance and actinomycin D assays. Exosomes were characterized via transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and marker profiling (CD63⁺/TSG101⁺/Alix⁺, calnexin⁻). Functional effects of hypoxic CAF exosomes on TNBC cells (MDA-MB-231, SUM159) were assessed through proliferation/migration assays, stemness/epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) marker analysis, and siRNA-mediated circSTAT3 knockdown. Mechanistic studies employed luciferase assays and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP). Chemoresistance was evaluated by cisplatin half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀). In vivo tumor growth and stemness enrichment were analyzed in xenografts. Clinical validation used BC tissues (n = 60) and plasma exosomes from BC patients (n = 40) versus healthy controls (n = 25).
resultsHypoxic CAF-derived exosomes efficiently transferred circSTAT3 to TNBC cells, promoting proliferation, migration, EMT, and stemness marker expression. SiRNA-mediated circSTAT3 knockdown reversed these effects. Mechanistically, circSTAT3 acted as a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA), sponging miR-671-5p to derepress NOTCH1. Hypoxic CAF exosomes increased cisplatin IC₅₀ in TNBC cells, while circSTAT3 depletion restored chemosensitivity. In vivo, hypoxic CAF exosomes accelerated tumor growth, enriched CD44⁺/NOTCH1⁺ populations, and elevated circulating exosomal circSTAT3. Clinically, circSTAT3 was significantly upregulated in advanced BC tissues (p < 0.01) and patient plasma exosomes (p < 0.01), correlating with lymph node metastasis.
conclusionThis study identifies a hypoxia-driven feedforward loop wherein CAF-derived exosomal circSTAT3 promotes TNBC stemness and chemoresistance via miR-671-5p/NOTCH1 signaling. CircSTAT3 redefines stromal-tumor crosstalk as a circRNA-driven process and serves as both a circulating non-invasive biomarker and a promising therapeutic target to disrupt stromal-mediated resistance in aggressive TNBC.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic 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 Socratic graph.