Short Commentary on the Kuznetsov et al. Structural and Functional Remodelling of Mitochondria as an Adaptive Response to Energy deprivation

Cancer cells show high adaptation and plasticity. They are dependent on glycolytic energy production. It has been suggested that glycolysis inhibition may be beneficial in cancer treatment. In this study, 2-Deoxyglucose (DOG) was applied to inhibit glycolysis in several cell lines. In all cells used, DOG treatment resulted in about 50% ATP decrease, but cell viability remained normal. Unexpectedly, we found ~2-fold increase in mitochondrial respiratory activity, together with large morphological changes showing creation of mitochondrial networks.  It has been demonstrated also an increase of mitochondrial fusion protein Mitofusin-2 and decrease of fission protein Drp1. These results show possible link between mitochondrial shape and their respiratory activity and that network can be more functional effective than fragmented organelles.