Lymph node metastasis by mitochondrial transfer from immune to tumor cells
How cancer cells subvert immunity to colonize the lymph node remains unclear.
The researchers uncover that lymph node metastasis may be driven by an immune to-cancer mitochondria transfer axis. The authors show that tumor cells hijack mitochondria from a wide array of immune cells and reduce the activation and cytotoxic capacity of natural killer (NK) and CD8 T cells.
The researchers demonstrate that the exogenous mitochondria fuse with endogenous mitochondria networks in the cancer cells, and leak mtDNA into the cytosol, to stimulate cGAS/STING, activating type I interferon-mediated immune evasion programs.
Mitochondrial transfer machinery blockage as well as cGAS, STING, or type I interferon—reduced cancer metastasis to the lymph node.
https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(25)00545-5
