Cancer metabolism and mitochondria: Finding novel mechanisms to fight tumours
Sonia Missiroli,
Mariasole Perrone,
Ilaria Genovese,
Paolo Pinton,
Carlotta Giorgi
Affiliations
Sonia Missiroli
Department of Medical Sciences, Laboratory for Technologies of Advanced Therapies (LTTA), University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
Mariasole Perrone
Department of Medical Sciences, Laboratory for Technologies of Advanced Therapies (LTTA), University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
Ilaria Genovese
Department of Medical Sciences, Laboratory for Technologies of Advanced Therapies (LTTA), University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
Paolo Pinton
Department of Medical Sciences, Laboratory for Technologies of Advanced Therapies (LTTA), University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
Carlotta Giorgi
Correspondence to: Carlotta Giorgi, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Italy.; Department of Medical Sciences, Laboratory for Technologies of Advanced Therapies (LTTA), University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
Mitochondria are dynamic organelles that have essential metabolic activity and are regarded as signalling hubs with biosynthetic, bioenergetics and signalling functions that orchestrate key biological pathways. However, mitochondria can influence all processes linked to oncogenesis, starting from malignant transformation to metastatic dissemination. In this review, we describe how alterations in the mitochondrial metabolic status contribute to the acquisition of typical malignant traits, discussing the most recent discoveries and the many unanswered questions. We also highlight that expanding our understanding of mitochondrial regulation and function mechanisms in the context of cancer cell metabolism could be an important task in biomedical research, thus offering the possibility of targeting mitochondria for the treatment of cancer.
