Mitochondrial regulation plays a crucial role in cancer immunity in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Infiltrating immune cells, including T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and macrophages, undergo mitochondrial metabolic reprogramming to survive the harsh conditions of the TME and enhance their antitumor activity. On the other hand, immunosuppressive cells like myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), regulatory T cells (Tregs), mast cells, and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) rely on mitochondrial regulation to maintain their function as well.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOver the past few decades, basic studies aimed at curing patients with cancer have been constantly evolving. A myriad of mechanistic studies on physiological changes and related factors in tumor growth and metastasis have been reported. Recently, several studies have been considerate to how tumors adapt to unfavorable environments, such as glucose deprivation, oxidative stress, hypoxic conditions, and immune responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOxid Med Cell Longev
February 2022
Accumulating evidence suggests that developmentally regulated GTP-binding protein 2 (DRG2), an evolutionarily conserved GTP-binding protein, plays an important role in regulating cell growth, inflammation, and mitochondria dynamics. However, the effect of DRG2 in aging remains unclear. In this study, we found that endogenous DRG2 protein expression is upregulated in oxidative stress-induced premature senescence models and tissues of aged mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKorean J Physiol Pharmacol
July 2021
Luteolin, a sort of flavonoid, has been reported to be involved in neuroprotective function via suppression of neuroinflammation. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of luteolin against oxidative stress-induced cellular senescence and its molecular mechanism using hydrogen peroxide (HO)-induced cellular senescence model in House Ear Institute-Organ of Corti 1 cells (HEI-OC1). Our results showed that luteolin attenuated senescent phenotypes including alterations of morphology, cell proliferation, senescence-associated -galactosidase expression, DNA damage, as well as related molecules expression such as p53 and p21 in the oxidant challenged model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOxidative stress-induced cellular senescence is now regarded as an important driving mechanism in chronic lung diseases-particularly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). 4[Formula: see text],5,7-trihydroxyflavone (Apigenin) is a natural flavonoid product abundantly present in fruits, vegetables, and Chinese medicinal herbs. It has been known that apigenin has anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and liver-protecting effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The number of deaths from COVID-19 continues to surge worldwide. In particular, if a patient's condition is sufficiently severe to require invasive ventilation, it is more likely to lead to death than to recovery.
Objective: The goal of our study was to analyze the factors related to COVID-19 severity in patients and to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) model to predict the severity of COVID-19 at an early stage.
J Med Internet Res
December 2020
Background: COVID-19, which is accompanied by acute respiratory distress, multiple organ failure, and death, has spread worldwide much faster than previously thought. However, at present, it has limited treatments.
Objective: To overcome this issue, we developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model of COVID-19, named EDRnet (ensemble learning model based on deep neural network and random forest models), to predict in-hospital mortality using a routine blood sample at the time of hospital admission.
Acute pancreatitis (AP) refers to inflammation in the pancreas, which may lead to death in severe cases. Coenzyme Q10 (Q10), generally known to generate energy, plays an important role as an anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effector. Here, we showed the effect of Q10 on inflammatory response in murine AP model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMitochondria are signaling hubs in eukaryotic cells. Here, we showed that the mitochondrial FUN14 domain-containing protein-1 (FUNDC1), an effector of Parkin-independent mitophagy, also participates in cellular plasticity by sustaining oxidative bioenergetics, buffering ROS production, and supporting cell proliferation. Targeting this pathway in cancer cells suppressed tumor growth but rendered transformed cells more motile and invasive in a manner dependent on ROS-mediated mitochondrial dynamics and mitochondrial repositioning to the cortical cytoskeleton.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLatifolin, a natural flavonoid found in Dalbergia odorifera T. Chen, has been reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic activities in vitro. However, the anti-aging effects of latifolin are unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe regulators of mitochondrial cell death in cancer have remained elusive, hampering the development of new therapies. Here, we showed that protein isoforms of mitochondrial fission factor (MFF1 and MFF2), a molecule that controls mitochondrial size and shape, that is, mitochondrial dynamics, were overexpressed in patients with non-small cell lung cancer and formed homo- and heterodimeric complexes with the voltage-dependent anion channel-1 (VDAC1), a key regulator of mitochondrial outer membrane permeability. MFF inserted into the interior hole of the VDAC1 ring using Arg225, Arg236, and Gln241 as key contact sites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Mitochondrial functions are exploited in cancer and provide a validated therapeutic target. However, how this process is regulated has remained mostly elusive and the identification of new pathways that control mitochondrial integrity in cancer is an urgent priority.
Methods: We studied clinically-annotated patient series of primary and metastatic prostate cancer, representative cases of multiple myeloma (MM) and publicly available genetic databases.
The role of mitochondria in cancer continues to be debated and paradoxically implicated in opposing functions in tumor growth and tumor suppression. To understand this dichotomy, we explored the function of mitochondrial isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)2, a tricarboxylic acid cycle enzyme mutated in subsets of acute leukemias and gliomas, in cancer. Silencing of IDH2 in prostate cancer cells impaired oxidative bioenergetics, elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and promoted exaggerated mitochondrial dynamics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTumor mitochondria have heightened protein folding quality control, but the regulators of this process and how they impact cancer traits are not completely understood. Here we show that the ATP-directed mitochondrial protease, LonP1 is upregulated by stress conditions, including hypoxia, in tumor, but not normal cells. In mitochondria, LonP1 is phosphorylated by Akt on Ser173 and Ser181, enhancing its protease activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe role of mitochondria in cancer continues to be debated, and whether exploitation of mitochondrial functions is a general hallmark of malignancy or a tumor- or context-specific response is still unknown. Using a variety of cancer cell lines and several technical approaches, including siRNA-mediated gene silencing, ChIP assays, global metabolomics and focused metabolite analyses, bioenergetics, and cell viability assays, we show that two oncogenic Myc proteins, c-Myc and N-Myc, transcriptionally control the expression of the mitochondrial chaperone TNFR-associated protein-1 (TRAP1) in cancer. In turn, this Myc-mediated regulation preserved the folding and function of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) complex II and IV subunits, dampened reactive oxygen species production, and enabled oxidative bioenergetics in tumor cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Myc gene is a universal oncogene that promotes aggressive cancer, but its role in metastasis has remained elusive. Here, we show that Myc transcriptionally controls a gene network of subcellular mitochondrial trafficking that includes the atypical mitochondrial GTPases RHOT1 and RHOT2, the adapter protein TRAK2, the anterograde motor Kif5B, and an effector of mitochondrial fission, Drp1. Interference with this pathway deregulates mitochondrial dynamics, shuts off subcellular organelle movements, and prevents the recruitment of mitochondria to the cortical cytoskeleton of tumor cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTumors adapt to an unfavorable microenvironment by controlling the balance between cell proliferation and cell motility, but the regulators of this process are largely unknown. Here, we show that an alternatively spliced isoform of syntaphilin (SNPH), a cytoskeletal regulator of mitochondrial movements in neurons, is directed to mitochondria of tumor cells. Mitochondrial SNPH buffers oxidative stress and maintains complex II-dependent bioenergetics, sustaining local tumor growth while restricting mitochondrial redistribution to the cortical cytoskeleton and tumor cell motility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe role of mitochondria in cancer is controversial. Using a genome-wide shRNA screen, we now show that tumours reprogram a network of mitochondrial dynamics operative in neurons, including syntaphilin (SNPH), kinesin KIF5B and GTPase Miro1/2 to localize mitochondria to the cortical cytoskeleton and power the membrane machinery of cell movements. When expressed in tumours, SNPH inhibits the speed and distance travelled by individual mitochondria, suppresses organelle dynamics, and blocks chemotaxis and metastasis, in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHypoxia is a universal driver of aggressive tumor behavior, but the underlying mechanisms are not completely understood. Using a phosphoproteomics screen, we now show that active Akt accumulates in the mitochondria during hypoxia and phosphorylates pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 (PDK1) on Thr346 to inactivate the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. In turn, this pathway switches tumor metabolism toward glycolysis, antagonizes apoptosis and autophagy, dampens oxidative stress, and maintains tumor cell proliferation in the face of severe hypoxia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMitochondria must buffer the risk of proteotoxic stress to preserve bioenergetics, but the role of these mechanisms in disease is poorly understood. Using a proteomics screen, we now show that the mitochondrial unfoldase-peptidase complex ClpXP associates with the oncoprotein survivin and the respiratory chain Complex II subunit succinate dehydrogenase B (SDHB) in mitochondria of tumor cells. Knockdown of ClpXP subunits ClpP or ClpX induces the accumulation of misfolded SDHB, impairing oxidative phosphorylation and ATP production while activating "stress" signals of 5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation and autophagy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe oxidative pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) contributes to tumour growth, but the precise contribution of 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD), the third enzyme in this pathway, to tumorigenesis remains unclear. We found that suppression of 6PGD decreased lipogenesis and RNA biosynthesis and elevated ROS levels in cancer cells, attenuating cell proliferation and tumour growth. 6PGD-mediated production of ribulose-5-phosphate (Ru-5-P) inhibits AMPK activation by disrupting the active LKB1 complex, thereby activating acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 and lipogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSurvivin promotes cell division and suppresses apoptosis in many human cancers, and increased abundance correlates with metastasis and poor prognosis. We showed that a pool of survivin that localized to the mitochondria of certain tumor cell lines enhanced the stability of oxidative phosphorylation complex II, which promoted cellular respiration. Survivin also supported the subcellular trafficking of mitochondria to the cortical cytoskeleton of tumor cells, which was associated with increased membrane ruffling, increased focal adhesion complex turnover, and increased tumor cell migration and invasion in cultured cells, and enhanced metastatic dissemination in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany human cancers share similar metabolic alterations, including the Warburg effect. However, it remains unclear whether oncogene-specific metabolic alterations are required for tumor development. Here we demonstrate a "synthetic lethal" interaction between oncogenic BRAF V600E and a ketogenic enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA lyase (HMGCL).
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