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Updated: Jul 2, 2025

Author Spotlight: Transmitochondrial Cybrid Generation Using Cancer Cell Lines
Published on: March 17, 2023
Cancer resistance and metastasis are maintained through oxidative phosphorylation
Cemile Uslu1, Eda Kapan1, Alex Lyakhovich1
1Sabanci University, Molecular Biology, Genetics and Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Turkey.
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Malignant tumors have increased energy requirements due to growth, differentiation or response to stress. A significant number of studies in recent years have described upregulation of mitochondrial genes responsible for oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) in some tumors. Although OXPHOS is replaced by glycolysis in some tumors (Warburg effect), both processes can occur simultaneously during the evolution of the same malignancies. In particular, chemoresistant and/or cancer stem cells appear to find a way to activate OXPHOS and metastasize. In this paper, we discuss recent work showing upregulation of OXPHOS in chemoresistant tumors and cell models. In addition, we show an inverse correlation of OXPHOS gene expression with the survival time of cancer patients after chemotherapy and discuss combination therapies for resistant tumors.
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