Research progress on mitochondria regulating anti-tumor immunity / 浙江大学学报·医学版

Tumor cells adaptively reforge their metabolism to meet the demands of energy and biosynthesis. Mitochondria, pivotal organelles in the metabolic reprogramming of tumor cells, contribute to tumorigenesis and cancer progression significantly through various dysfunctions in both tumor and immune cells. Alterations in mitochondrial dynamics and metabolic signaling pathways exert crucial regulatory influence on the activation, proliferation, and differentiation of immune cells. The tumor microenvironment orchestrates the activation and functionality of tumor-infiltrating immune cells by reprogramming mitochondrial metabolism and inducing shifts in mitochondrial dynamics, thereby facilitating the establishment of a tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment. Stress-induced leakage of mitochondrial DNA contributes multifaceted regulatory effects on anti-tumor immune responses and the immunosuppressive microenvironment by activating multiple natural immune signals, including cGAS-STING, TLR9, and NLRP3. Moreover, mitochondrial DNA-mediated immunogenic cell death emerges as a promising avenue for anti-tumor immunotherapy. Additionally, mtROS, a crucial factor in tumorigenesis, drives the formation of tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment by changing the composition of immune cells within the tumor microenvironment. This review focuses on the intrinsic relationship between mitochondrial biology and anti-tumor immune responses from multiple angles. We expect to explore the core role of mitochondria in the dynamic interplay between the tumor and the host, in order to facilitate the development of targeted mitochondrial strategies for anti-tumor immunotherapy.

Detection of Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species in Living Rat Trigeminal Caudal Neurons

Growing evidence suggests that mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in various pain states. This study was performed to investigate whether ROS-induced changes in neuronal excitability in trigeminal subnucleus caudalis are related to ROS generation in mitochondria. Confocal scanning laser microscopy was used to measure ROS-induced fluorescence intensity in live rat trigeminal caudalis slices. The ROS level increased during the perfusion of malate, a mitochondrial substrate, after loading of 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (H2DCF-DA), an indicator of the intracellular ROS; the ROS level recovered to the control condition after washout. When pre-treated with phenyl N-tert-butylnitrone (PBN) and 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidene-1-oxyl (TEMPOL), malate-induced increase of ROS level was suppressed. To identify the direct relation between elevated ROS levels and mitochondria, we applied the malate after double-loading of H2DCF-DA and chloromethyl-X-rosamine (CMXRos; MitoTracker Red), which is a mitochondria-specific fluorescent probe. As a result, increase of both intracellular ROS and mitochondrial ROS were observed simultaneously. This study demonstrated that elevated ROS in trigeminal subnucleus caudalis neuron can be induced through mitochondrial-ROS pathway, primarily by the leakage of ROS from the mitochondrial electron transport chain.