title: Mitochondria as therapeutic targets for cancer stem cells.
abstract: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are maintained by their somatic stem cells and are responsible for tumor initiation, chemoresistance, and metastasis. Evidence for the CSCs existence has been reported for a number of human cancers. The CSC mitochondria have been shown recently to be an important target for cancer treatment, but clinical significance of CSCs and their mitochondria properties remain unclear. Mitochondria-targeted agents are considerably more effective compared to other agents in triggering apoptosis of CSCs, as well as general cancer cells, via mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondrial metabolism is altered in cancer cells because of their reliance on glycolytic intermediates, which are normally destined for oxidative phosphorylation. Therefore, inhibiting cancer-specific modifications in mitochondrial metabolism, increasing reactive oxygen species production, or stimulating mitochondrial permeabilization transition could be promising new therapeutic strategies to activate cell death in CSCs as well, as in general cancer cells. This review analyzed mitochondrial function and its potential as a therapeutic target to induce cell death in CSCs. Furthermore, combined treatment with mitochondria-targeted drugs will be a promising strategy for the treatment of relapsed and refractory cancer.
authors: In Sung Song, Jeong Yu Jeong, Seung Hun Jeong, Hyoung Kyu Kim, Kyung Soo Ko, Byoung Doo Rhee, Nari Kim, Jin Han, National Research Laboratory for Mitochondrial Signaling, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Center, Inje University, Busan 614-735, South Korea.
authors: In Sung
authors: IS
authors: Song
authors: In Sung Song, Jeong Yu Jeong, Seung Hun Jeong, Hyoung Kyu Kim, Kyung Soo Ko, Byoung Doo Rhee, Nari Kim, Jin Han, National Research Laboratory for Mitochondrial Signaling, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Center, Inje University, Busan 614-735, South Korea.
authors: Jeong Yu
authors: JY
authors: Jeong
authors: In Sung Song, Jeong Yu Jeong, Seung Hun Jeong, Hyoung Kyu Kim, Kyung Soo Ko, Byoung Doo Rhee, Nari Kim, Jin Han, National Research Laboratory for Mitochondrial Signaling, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Center, Inje University, Busan 614-735, South Korea.
authors: Seung Hun
authors: SH
authors: Jeong
authors: In Sung Song, Jeong Yu Jeong, Seung Hun Jeong, Hyoung Kyu Kim, Kyung Soo Ko, Byoung Doo Rhee, Nari Kim, Jin Han, National Research Laboratory for Mitochondrial Signaling, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Center, Inje University, Busan 614-735, South Korea.
authors: Hyoung Kyu
authors: HK
authors: Kim
authors: In Sung Song, Jeong Yu Jeong, Seung Hun Jeong, Hyoung Kyu Kim, Kyung Soo Ko, Byoung Doo Rhee, Nari Kim, Jin Han, National Research Laboratory for Mitochondrial Signaling, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Center, Inje University, Busan 614-735, South Korea.
authors: Kyung Soo
authors: KS
authors: Ko
authors: In Sung Song, Jeong Yu Jeong, Seung Hun Jeong, Hyoung Kyu Kim, Kyung Soo Ko, Byoung Doo Rhee, Nari Kim, Jin Han, National Research Laboratory for Mitochondrial Signaling, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Center, Inje University, Busan 614-735, South Korea.
authors: Byoung Doo
authors: BD
authors: Rhee
authors: In Sung Song, Jeong Yu Jeong, Seung Hun Jeong, Hyoung Kyu Kim, Kyung Soo Ko, Byoung Doo Rhee, Nari Kim, Jin Han, National Research Laboratory for Mitochondrial Signaling, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Center, Inje University, Busan 614-735, South Korea.
authors: Nari
authors: N
authors: Kim
authors: In Sung Song, Jeong Yu Jeong, Seung Hun Jeong, Hyoung Kyu Kim, Kyung Soo Ko, Byoung Doo Rhee, Nari Kim, Jin Han, National Research Laboratory for Mitochondrial Signaling, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Center, Inje University, Busan 614-735, South Korea.
authors: Jin
authors: J
authors: Han
keywords: Cancer stem cells; Mitochondria; Mitochondrial energy metabolism; Relapsed and refractory cancer; Therapeutic target