Mitochondria in cancer stem cells: Achilles heel or hard armor.

Trends Cell Biol

Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Institute of Pathology and Southwest Cancer Center, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Medical University), Chongqing 400038, China; International Joint Research Center for Precision Biotherapy, Ministry of Science and Technology, Chongqing 400038, China; Key Laboratory of Cancer Immunopathology, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400038, China; College of Basic Medical Sciences, Third Military Medical University (Army Medical University), Chongqing 400038, China; Jin-feng Laboratory, Chongqing 401329, China. Electronic address:

Published: August 2023

Previous studies have shown that mitochondria play core roles in not only cancer stem cell (CSC) metabolism but also the regulation of CSC stemness maintenance and differentiation, which are key regulators of cancer progression and therapeutic resistance. Therefore, an in-depth study of the regulatory mechanism of mitochondria in CSCs is expected to provide a new target for cancer therapy. This article mainly introduces the roles played by mitochondria and related mechanisms in CSC stemness maintenance, metabolic transformation, and chemoresistance. The discussion mainly focuses on the following aspects: mitochondrial morphological structure, subcellular localization, mitochondrial DNA, mitochondrial metabolism, and mitophagy. The manuscript also describes the recent clinical research progress on mitochondria-targeted drugs and discusses the basic principles of their targeted strategies. Indeed, an understanding of the application of mitochondria in the regulation of CSCs will promote the development of novel CSC-targeted strategies, thereby significantly improving the long-term survival rate of patients with cancer.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tcb.2023.03.009DOI Listing

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