Submitted:
24 June 2022
Posted:
27 June 2022
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Abstract
Like living organisms, cancer cells require energy to survive and interact with their environment. Mitochondria are the main organelles for energy production and cellular metabolism. Recently, investigators demonstrated that cancer cells can hijack mitochondria from immune cells. This behavior sheds light on a pivotal piece in the cancer puzzle, the ‘dependence’ on the normal cells. This article illustrates the benefits of new, functional mitochondria for cancer cells that urge them to hijack mitochondria. It describes how functional mitochondria help cancer cells’ survival in the harsh tumor microenvironment, immune evasion, progression, and treatment resistance. Recent evidence has put forward the pivotal role of mitochondria in cancer stem cells’ metabolism. This theory highlights the mitochondria in cancer biology and explains how targeted anti-mitochondrial treatments can improve oncological outcomes.
Keywords:
ATP
; Cancer cell
; Cancer Treatment
; Mitochondria
; T cell
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.