Mitochondrial Transfer: A New Mechanism in Cancer Cell Survival [July. 01, 2025] DOJINDO LABORATORIES

Cancer cells can hijack mitochondria from immune cells to boost their metabolism and suppress immunity¹. Remarkably, a recent study also revealed that cancer cells transfer mutated mitochondria to lymphocytes, leading to dysfunction and senescence². Together, these findings illustrate how cancer cells exploit mitochondrial dynamics to create an immunosuppressive microenvironment.

Immune evasion through mitochondrial transfer in the tumour microenvironment (Nature, 2025)
Summary: MCancer cells transfer mitochondria carrying mtDNA mutations and mitophagy-inhibitory molecules to T cells. These mitochondria evade degradation and gradually replace the endogenous mitochondria in T cells. This leads to metabolic dysfunction and senescence, impairing antitumor immunity and reducing responsiveness to immune checkpoint blockade.

Highlighted technique: Mitochondrial transfer and mitophagy are key experimental targets in this study, which evaluates these phenomena using mitochondrial detection probes, mitochondria-targeted fluorescent proteins, and lysosomal marker staining.

Related technique Mitophagy Imaging without Transfection, Cellular Senescence Detection (Used in this article)

Intercellular nanotubes mediate mitochondrial trafficking between cancer and immune cells (Nature Nanotechnology, 2021)
Summary: Cancer cells hijack mitochondria from immune cells via tunneling nanotubes, enhancing their own metabolism while depleting immune cell function. Inhibiting nanotube formation reduces mitochondrial transfer and, when combined with PD-1 blockade, improves antitumor efficacy in a breast cancer model.

Highlighted technique: In this study, nanotubes formed between cancer cells and immune cells were visualized using actin filament labeling, and the transfer of mitochondria through these structures was observed using mitochondrial probes. This mitochondrial transfer was further supported by the co-localized movement of labeled mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) within the nanotubes.

Related technique Mitochondrial Staining Dyes, OCR Assay, Glysolysis/OXPHOS Assay

Related Techniques (click to open/close)

Target	Kit & Probes
Mitophagy detection	Mitophagy Detection Kit
Mitochondrial membrane potential detection	JC-1 MitoMP Detection Kit, MT-1 MitoMP Detection Kit
Mitochondrial Staining	MitoBright LT Green / Red / Deep Red
Lysosomal function	Lysosomal Acidic pH Detection Kit -Green/Red and Green/Deep Red
Mitochondrial superoxide detection	MitoBright ROS Deep Red
Oxygen consumption rate assay	Extracellular OCR Plate Assay Kit
Glycolysis/Oxidative phosphorylation Assay	Glycolysis/OXPHOS Assay Kit
Cellular senescence detection	SPiDER-βGal for live-cell imaging or flow cytometry / microplate reader / tissue samples Blue cellular senescence detection dye for fixed cells, SPiDER Blue
Total ROS detection	Highly sensitive DCFH-DA or Photo-oxidation Resistant DCFH-DA
Cell proliferation/ cytotoxicity assay	Cell Counting Kit-8 and Cytotoxicity LDH Assay Kit-WST

Application Note I (click to open/close)
> Induction of Mitophagy in Parkin Expressed HeLa cells

CCCP was added to Parkin-expressing HeLa cells and normal HeLa cells to confirm mitophagy. In the experiment, lysosomes and mitochondria were co-stained, and a strong mitophagic signal was observed on mitochondria and lysosomes in Parkin-expressing HeLa cells.

Products in Use
- Mitophagy Detection Kit (Include Mtphagy Dye and Lyso Dye)
※Our sincere apology that we discontinued distributing MitoBright Deep Red.
Please refer to MitoBright LT Deep Red (Code#:MT12) which improved retention ability.