Non-apoptogenic Ca2+-related extrusion of mitochondria in anoxia/reoxygenation stress.

Tumor cells often develop molecular strategies for survival to anoxia/reoxygenation stress as part of tumor progression. Here we describe that the B lymphoma Epstein-Barr-positive cells E2r survive reoxygenation in spite of a very high and long-lasting increase in cytosolic Ca2+ and the loss of about half of their mitochondria due to specific extrusion of the organelles from the cells. The extrusion typically occurs 3 days after reoxygenation, and a regular mitochondrial asset is regained after further 24 h.