Cancer mitochondria: find and destroy
The destruction of the mitochondria of cancer cells is one of the most promising areas in the development of new antitumor drugs.
A group of researchers from King's College in London has developed an experimental drug – a peptide containing copper that destroys the mitochondria of tumor stem cells. This leads to apoptosis – cell death. The authors write about the powerful therapeutic potential of metallopeptide.
Mitochondria are the "energy stations" of cells. In addition, apoptosis is triggered in the mitochondria – programmed cell death.
Cancer cells grow rapidly, therefore, in comparison with healthy cells, they contain a greater number of mitochondria that differ in structure and function.
These differences attracted the attention of researchers and prompted the development of a drug that has an effect on the mitochondria of cancer cells.
The destruction of mitochondria can be achieved, for example, by the introduction of agents that produce reactive oxygen species and thus disrupt metabolism in mitochondria. The organometallic compound phenanthroline, containing divalent copper, was proposed by researchers as a powerful source of active oxygen with a predominant effect on cancer stem cells. The question was the delivery of the compound to the tumor and its penetration through the mitochondrial membrane. It was necessary to bind phenanthroline with a peptide capable of penetrating into the cancer cell and tropic to the mitochondrial membrane.
A metallopeptide was developed, which was studied in the cell culture of breast cancer of two types: with differentiated cells and with stem cancer cells. The researchers observed dose-dependent destruction of up to 100% of cancer cells as a result of damage to the mitochondrial membrane, accumulation of the drug in them, release of reactive oxygen species and metabolic disorders inside the mitochondria.
The drug more actively damaged cancer stem cells – this can be explained by the high content of mitochondria in them.
The results of the study demonstrate the potential of metallopeptide for the destruction of cancer cells, especially stem cells, which "hide" deep inside the tumor and are the cause of the ineffectiveness of antitumor therapy.
Article by Kristine Lows et al. A Copper(II) Phenanthroline Metallopeptide That Targets and Disrupts Mitochondrial Function in Breast Cancer Stem Cells is published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Wiley Online Library: Malignant mitochondria as a target.