Targeting mitochondria for cancer therapy

Simone Fulda, Lorenzo Galluzzi, Guido Kroemer

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    1431 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Mitochondria are the cells' powerhouse, but also their suicidal weapon store. Dozens of lethal signal transduction pathways converge on mitochondria to cause the permeabilization of the mitochondrial outer membrane, leading to the cytosolic release of pro-apoptotic proteins and to the impairment of the bioenergetic functions of mitochondria. The mitochondrial metabolism of cancer cells is deregulated owing to the use of glycolytic intermediates, which are normally destined for oxidative phosphorylation, in anabolic reactions. Activation of the cell death machinery in cancer cells by inhibiting tumour-specific alterations of the mitochondrial metabolism or by stimulating mitochondrial membrane permeabilization could therefore be promising therapeutic approaches.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)447-464
    Number of pages18
    JournalNature Reviews Drug Discovery
    Volume9
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2010

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