Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41923477›Full record

ReviewBiological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society2026

Orchestrating the metastatic symphony: the role of extracellular vesicles in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and pulmonary niche formation of breast cancer.

Jian Lu, Reza Shirazi Nia, Junjie Sun, Chrysa Filippopoulou, Daniel De Vega, Pengtao Hu, Heng Liang, Hang Yao, Chaoyue Pan, Xiaoyan Wu and 3 more

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing 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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
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

13 authors.

Jian LuInternational Oncology Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Oncology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6090-2490
Reza Shirazi NiaInternational Oncology Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Oncology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4002-4712
Junjie SunDepartment of General Surgery, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210006, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4248-6873
Chrysa FilippopoulouInternational Oncology Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Oncology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1432-5837
Daniel De VegaInternational Oncology Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Oncology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.
Pengtao HuDepartment of General Surgery, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210006, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0003-7205-012X
Heng LiangInternational Oncology Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Oncology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2097-115X
Hang YaoInternational Oncology Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Oncology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.
Chaoyue PanInternational Oncology Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Oncology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.
Xiaoyan WuInternational Oncology Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Oncology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.
Xidong GuDepartment of Breast Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.
Xiaohong XieDepartment of Breast Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.
Georgios GiamasInternational Oncology Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Oncology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4417-2707

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The complexity of breast cancer (BC) lung metastasis lies in the capacity of tumour cells to interact efficiently with distant organs to promote colonisation, a process that involves the sophisticated coordination of inherent cellular plasticity and the remodelling of the distant microenvironment. This review emphasises the essential function of extracellular vesicles (EVs) within this communication network. Tumour-derived EVs (TEVs) not only induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by reprogramming breast cancer cell gene expression networks, thereby enhancing migratory and invasive capabilities, but also serve as a 'vanguard', arriving in the lungs in advance to educate stromal cells and establish a pre-metastatic niche that facilitates breast cancer progression. This review uniquely conceptualises EV-mediated EMT and niche formation as a synergistic and sequential biological continuum. We comprehensively examine the sorting mechanisms of EV molecular cargo, targeted delivery approaches, and hierarchical regulatory networks. Critically, we propose that the concurrent regulation of EMT and niche formation is likely driven by the synergistic action of distinct EV subpopulations rather than single 'multitasking' vesicles. Future investigations dissecting this heterogeneity will be pivotal for verifying this synergistic subpopulations hypothesis and establishing a theoretical basis for precise EV-based metastasis intervention strategies.

Indexed as

Breast NeoplasmsEpithelial-Mesenchymal TransitionExtracellular VesiclesLung NeoplasmsAnimalsFemaleHumansNeoplasm MetastasisTumor Microenvironmentbreast cancercell–cell communicationepithelial–mesenchymal transitionexosomesextracellular vesicleslung metastasismolecular sortingorganotropismpre‐metastatic niche

Identifiers

PMID41923477
PMCPMC13542348

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

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 Socratic graph.