Oncology Research
At the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), part of the Laboratory for Systems Biology and Medicine (LSBM) at the University of Tokyo.
Detecting and Inhibiting Mitochondrial Transfer via CAFs and healthy cells.
Succeced in reducing mitochondrial transfer in tunneling tubes by using siRNA.
Conducted at the University of Tokyo & The American School in Japan
Abstract
Cancers in humans proliferate through a series of different functionalities. Mitochondrial transfer, a recent area of oncology research, has discovered the transfer of the mitochondria and other cellular components between cancerous and healthy cells via tunneling nanotubes (TNTs). An article published by Vanderbilt University in July of 2023 hypothesized that cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) have the ability to produce TNTs and inhibit this transfer using chemical reagents. However, biological or genetic solutions were not presented, and confirmation by other researchers was limited. Cell division control protein, or CDC42, is one of several genes responsible for the formation of these TNTs. This study attempts to confirm the research conducted by Vanderbilt University and to show that the inhibition of the TNTs with small interfering RNA (siRNA) will lead to a reduction in mitochondrial transfer and, therefore, lessen the progression of cancer.