High mitochondrial DNA levels accelerate lung adenocarcinoma progression.

ABSTRACT: Lung adenocarcinoma is a common aggressive cancer and a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Here, we report an important in vivo role for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number during lung adenocarcinoma progression in the mouse. We found that lung tumors induced by KRAS^G12D expression have increased mtDNA levels and enhanced mitochondrial respiration. To experimentally assess a possible causative role in tumor progression, we induced lung cancer in transgenic mice with a general increase in mtDNA copy number and found that they developed a larger tumor burden, whereas mtDNA depletion in tumor cells reduced tumor growth. Immune cell populations in the lung and cytokine levels in plasma were not affected by increased mtDNA levels. Analyses of large cancer databases indicate that

SUBMITTER: Mennuni M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11529711 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature