Is cancer a mitochondrial disease?

joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com

9 points·sjcsjc··5 comments

This piece opens strong, wanders in the darkness, then has a strong conclusion:

> Damaged mitochondria can also cause cancer even when their DNA is intact, and Seyfried (after Warburg) makes a strong case that mitochondrial damage is the root cause of cancer. Inflammation is probably the single worst source of mitochondrial damage. Do we need one more reason to minimize inflammation?

How does damaged mitochondria cause cells to divide uncontrollably?

Also wouldn't this idea suggest we should see cancer in cells with the most mitochondria? Muscles?

When the mitochondria are fermenting sugar instead of burning it, the cells don't have enough ATP to fully repair themselves.

So the mitochondria damage the cells nuclear DNA which then makes the cell divide uncontrollably?

But the experiment mentioned in the article doesn't support that? They took the damaged nuclear DNA and couldn't get a normal cell to go cancerous with it.

So I'm wondering if somehow the mitochondria is actually affecting the cells behavior and division?

Not really an expert in these matters, I'm just somewhat familiar with the theory presented in the linked article. I don't feel capable of responding to your specific questions with anything more than speculations, so I apologize for not replying more fully.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com