ReviewCancer letters2026
Midkine (MDK) as a central regulator of the tumor microenvironment: From developmental cytokine to therapeutic target.
Review in Cancer letters, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 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
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dynamic evolution of chaperone-mediated autophagy is associated with tumor microenvironment remodeling and prognostic stratification in lung adenocarcinoma: insights from single-cell transcriptomics, ensemble machine learning, and experimental validation.Translational oncology · 2026Article
- Targeted extracellular vesicle-photoimmunotherapy remodels stromal-immune microenvironment to boost chemo-immunotherapy in preclinical models.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Article
- Leukemia inhibitory factor drives malignant progression in lung squamous cell carcinoma via the PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin axis.Journal of molecular histology · 2026Article
- Single-cell transcriptomics profiling elucidates RBP-driven metastatic signaling pathways in ERiScience · 2026Article
- Regenerative macrophages enhance stem cell-derived β cell function and engraftment.Science advances · 2026Article
- MDK Activates the PI3K/AKT Axis to Induce AP2A1 Expression and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Colorectal Cancer.Cancers · 2026Article
- Metabolic symbiosis and competition: the dual nature of TAM-tumor cell cross-talk in tumor progression.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Integrative multi-omics analysis identifies SNRPE as a key driver gene in uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma: promoting tumor progression, and mediating immune evasion.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Midkine (MDK) is an oncofetal, heparin-binding cytokine that is re-expressed across diverse cancers and correlates with aggressive disease and treatment resistance. This review synthesizes current evidence on MDK as a coordinator of tumor-intrinsic signaling and microenvironmental remodeling. We summarize MDK structural features, extracellular matrix interactions, and receptor systems that mediate MDK signaling, highlighting LRP1 and PTPRZ1 with context-dependent participation of ALK, nucleolin and integrins. Downstream, MDK engages MAPK, PI3K-AKT, STAT3 and NF-κB pathways to promote tumor cell survival, epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity, and therapeutic stress tolerance. We then focus on tumor microenvironment (TME) programs shaped by MDK, including angiogenesis, fibroblast activation and extracellular matrix remodeling, and the establishment of immunosuppressive niches. Across tumor types, MDK is linked to impaired dendritic-cell function, polarization of tumor-associated macrophages, accrual of myeloid-derived suppressor cells and reduced CD8
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.