Antitumor Actions of Intratumoral Delivery of Membrane-Fused Mitochondria in a Mouse Model of Triple-Negative Breast Cancers.

BACKGROUND

The transfer of whole mitochondria has been demonstrated to be beneficial for treating breast cancer because it induces apoptosis and drug sensitivity; however, in vivo evidence of this benefit remains scant. The present study compared the transplantation of mitochondria with instinctive (Mito) and membrane-fused morphologies induced by Pep-1 conjugation (P-Mito) using a mouse model of triple-negative breast cancers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Mice with advanced severe immunodeficiency received orthotopic implantation of MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells followed by transplants of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU)-labeled Mito or P-Mito (200 μg [10 μg/μL]) through intratumoral injection at multiple points once a week for 4 weeks.

RESULTS

After 1 month of consecutive treatment, 8.2% and 14.2% of the BrdU-labeled mitochondria were preserved in tumors of the Mito and P-Mito groups, respectively. Both Pep-1 and P-Mito treatments reduced tumor weight (21.7% ± 2.43% vs 40.6% ± 2.28%) and led to marked inhibition of Ki67 staining and angiogenesis. However, only the P-Mito group exhibited obvious necrosis and DNA fragmentation accompanied by an altered tumor microenvironment, which included reduced oxidative stress and size of cancer-associated fibroblast populations and enhanced immune cell infiltration. Transmission electron microscopy images further revealed an elongated network of perinuclear mitochondria fused with a few peripheral mitochondria in the nonnecrotic area in the P-Mito group as well as increases in mitochondrial fusion proteins and parkin compared with mitochondrial fission proteins.

CONCLUSION

In this study, the results of mitochondrial transplantation emphasized that the facilitation of mitochondrial fusion is a critical regulator in breast cancer therapy.