Tipping the Balance in the Powerhouse of the Cell to “Protect” Colorectal Cancer

Dawit Kidane,Joann B. Sweasy,Susan M. Rosenberg

doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002758

Abstract

Tipping the Balance in the Powerhouse of the Cell to “Protect” Colorectal Cancer

Highlights

Mitochondria are the bioenergetic centers of eukaryotic cells that produce ATP through oxidative phosphorylation
Several studies have reported that a high frequency of clonal and, selected mitochondrial mutations are present in a variety of human tumors [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]
The assumption from these studies is that this high frequency of clonal mutations arises from the reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced in mitochondria by the escape of oxygen free radicals during oxidative phosphorylation, and that these mutations play a role in driving cancer (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

Mitochondria are the bioenergetic centers of eukaryotic cells that produce ATP through oxidative phosphorylation. Several studies have reported that a high frequency of clonal and, selected mitochondrial mutations are present in a variety of human tumors [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations in cancer cells include intragenic deletions, missense and chain-termination point mutations, and alterations of homopolymeric sequences that result in frameshift mutations [16,17].

Results

Conclusion