Cancer Cell Growth Linked to Mitochondrial Process

University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (Pennsylvania, USA)) researchers have uncovered a technique to halt the growth of cancer cells, a discovery that led them to a potential new anti-cancer therapy.  All cells have a network of mitochondria, which are tiny structures inside cells that are essential for energy production and metabolism. Dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) helps mitochondria undergo fission, a process by which they split themselves into two new mitochondria.  When deprived of a this key protein, some cancer cells are unable to properly divide.  The researchers then identified compound called Mdivi-1 that makes cancer cells behave much the way they do when deficient in Drp-1. When used in combination with cisplatin, a drug already used to treat many solid cancers, rapid cell death can be induced in a wide range of cancer cells. This means that Mdivi-1 makes cisplatin work better.  Mdivi-1 is being tested in cancer cells in a laboratory setting. Writing that: “dysfunctional mitochondrial fission directly induces genome instability by replication stress, which then initiates DNA damage response,” the study authors submit that: “ Our findings provide a novel mechanism that contributes to the cellular dysfunction and diseases associated with altered mitochondrial dynamics.”