Mitochondria “fuel” breast cancer metabolism: Fifteen markers of mitochondrial biogenesis label epithelial cancer cells, but are excluded from adjacent stromal cells
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Here, we present new genetic and morphological evidence that human tumors consist of two distinct metabolic compartments. First, re-analysis of genome-wide transcriptional profiling data revealed that > 95 gene transcripts associated with mitochondrial biogenesis and/or mitochondrial translation were significantly elevated in human breast cancer cells, as compared with adjacent stromal tissue. Remarkably, nearly 40 of these upregulated gene transcripts were mitochondrial ribosomal proteins (MRPs), functionally associated with mitochondrial translation of protein components of the OXPHOS complex. Second, during validation by immunohistochemistry, we observed that antibodies directed against 15 markers of mitochondrial biogenesis and/or mitochondrial translation (AKAP1, GOLPH3, GOLPH3L, MCT1, MRPL40, MRPS7, MRPS15, MRPS22, NRF1, NRF2, PGC1-α, POLRMT, TFAM, TIMM9 and TOMM70A) selectively labeled epithelial breast cancer cells. These same mitochondrial markers were largely absent or excluded from adjacent tumor stromal cells. Finally, markers of mitochondrial lipid synthesis (GOLPH3) and mitochondrial translation (POLRMT) were associated with poor clinical outcome in human breast cancer patients. Thus, we conclude that human breast cancers contain two distinct metabolic compartments-a glycolytic tumor stroma, which surrounds oxidative epithelial cancer cells-that are mitochondria-rich. The co-existence of these two compartments is indicative of metabolic symbiosis between epithelial cancer cells and their surrounding stroma. As such, epithelial breast cancer cells should be viewed as predatory metabolic "parasites," which undergo anabolic reprogramming to amplify their mitochondrial "power." This notion is consistent with the observation that the anti-malarial agent chloroquine may be an effective anticancer agent. New anticancer therapies should be developed to target mitochondrial biogenesis and/or mitochondrial translation in human cancer cells.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".