Pole of Pharmacology, Institut de Recherche Experimentale et Clinique (IREC), Université Catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Avenue Hippocrate 57 Box B1.57.04, 1200 Brussels, Belgium.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Mar 23;22(6):3245. doi: 10.3390/ijms22063245.
Depending on their tissue of origin, genetic and epigenetic marks and microenvironmental influences, cancer cells cover a broad range of metabolic activities that fluctuate over time and space. At the core of most metabolic pathways, mitochondria are essential organelles that participate in energy and biomass production, act as metabolic sensors, control cancer cell death, and initiate signaling pathways related to cancer cell migration, invasion, metastasis and resistance to treatments. While some mitochondrial modifications provide aggressive advantages to cancer cells, others are detrimental. This comprehensive review summarizes the current knowledge about mitochondrial transfers that can occur between cancer and nonmalignant cells. Among different mechanisms comprising gap junctions and cell-cell fusion, tunneling nanotubes are increasingly recognized as a main intercellular platform for unidirectional and bidirectional mitochondrial exchanges. Understanding their structure and functionality is an important task expected to generate new anticancer approaches aimed at interfering with gains of functions (e.g., cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion, metastasis and chemoresistance) or damaged mitochondria elimination associated with mitochondrial transfer.
根据其组织来源、遗传和表观遗传标记以及微环境影响，癌细胞具有广泛的代谢活性，这些活性随时间和空间而变化。在大多数代谢途径的核心，线粒体是参与能量和生物量产生的重要细胞器，作为代谢传感器，控制癌细胞死亡，并启动与癌细胞迁移、侵袭、转移和对治疗的耐药性相关的信号通路。虽然一些线粒体修饰为癌细胞提供了有利的优势，但其他修饰则是有害的。这篇全面的综述总结了目前关于癌症和非恶性细胞之间可能发生的线粒体转移的知识。在包括间隙连接和细胞融合在内的不同机制中，越来越多的研究表明，隧道纳米管是细胞间单向和双向线粒体交换的主要平台。了解它们的结构和功能是一项重要任务，预计这将产生新的抗癌方法，旨在干扰功能增益（例如，癌细胞增殖、迁移、侵袭、转移和化疗耐药性）或与线粒体转移相关的受损线粒体消除。
