A critical reassessment of the role of mitochondria in tumorigenesis

被引:167
作者
Salas, A [1 ]
Yao, YG
Macaulay, V
Vega, A
Carracedo, A
Bandelt, HJ
机构
[1] Univ Santiago de Compostela, Fac Med, Inst Med Legal, Unidade Xenet, Galicia, Spain
[2] Hosp Clin Univ, Ctr Nacl Genotipado CeGen, Galicia, Spain
[3] Chinese Acad Sci, Kunming Inst Zool, Key Lab Cellular & Mol Evolut, Kunming, Yunnan, Peoples R China
[4] Univ Glasgow, Dept Stat, Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland
[5] Univ Santiago de Compostela, Hosp Clin Univ, Fdn Publ Galega Med Xenom, Galicia, Spain
[6] Univ Hamburg, Dept Math, Hamburg, Germany
关键词
D O I
10.1371/journal.pmed.0020296
中图分类号
R5 [内科学];
学科分类号
1002 ; 100201 ;
摘要
Background Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is being analyzed by an increasing number of laboratories in order to investigate its potential role as an active marker of tumorigenesis in various types of cancer. Here we question the conclusions drawn in most of these investigations, especially those published in high-rank cancer research journals, under the evidence that a significant number of these medical mtDNA studies are based on obviously flawed sequencing results. Methods and Findings In our analyses, we take a phylogenetic approach and employ thorough database searches, which together have proven successful for detecting erroneous sequences in the fields of human population genetics and forensics. Apart from conceptual problems concerning the interpretation of mtDNA variation in tumorigenesis, in most cases, blocks of seemingly somatic mutations clearly point to contamination or sample mix-up and, therefore, have nothing to do with tumorigenesis. Conclusion The role of mitochondria in tumorigenesis remains unclarified. Our findings of laboratory errors in many contributions would represent only the tip of the iceberg since most published studies do not provide the raw sequence data for inspection, thus hindering a posteriori evaluation of the results. There is no precedent for such a concatenation of errors and misconceptions affecting a whole subfield of medical research.
引用
收藏
页码:1158 / 1166
页数:9
相关论文
共 56 条
[1]   Control region mutations and the 'common deletion' are frequent in the mitochondrial DNA of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma [J].
Abnet, CC ;
Huppi, K ;
Carrera, A ;
Armistead, D ;
McKenney, K ;
Hu, N ;
Tang, ZZ ;
Taylor, PR ;
Dawsey, SM .
BMC CANCER, 2004, 4 (1)
[2]   The molecular dissection of mtDNA haplogroup H confirms that the Franco-Cantabrian glacial refuge was a major source for the European gene pool [J].
Achilli, A ;
Rengo, C ;
Magri, C ;
Battaglia, V ;
Olivieri, A ;
Scozzari, R ;
Cruciani, F ;
Zeviani, M ;
Briem, E ;
Carelli, V ;
Moral, P ;
Dugoujon, JM ;
Roostalu, U ;
Loogväli, EL ;
Kivisild, T ;
Bandelt, HJ ;
Richards, M ;
Villems, R ;
Santachiara-Benerecetti, AS ;
Semino, O ;
Torroni, A .
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN GENETICS, 2004, 75 (05) :910-918
[3]   Saami and Berbers - An unexpected mitochondrial DNA link [J].
Achilli, A ;
Rengo, C ;
Battaglia, V ;
Pala, M ;
Olivieri, A ;
Fornarino, S ;
Magri, C ;
Scozzari, R ;
Babudri, N ;
Santachiara-Benerecetti, AS ;
Bandelt, HJ ;
Semino, O ;
Torroni, A .
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN GENETICS, 2005, 76 (05) :883-886
[4]   SEQUENCE AND ORGANIZATION OF THE HUMAN MITOCHONDRIAL GENOME [J].
ANDERSON, S ;
BANKIER, AT ;
BARRELL, BG ;
DEBRUIJN, MHL ;
COULSON, AR ;
DROUIN, J ;
EPERON, IC ;
NIERLICH, DP ;
ROE, BA ;
SANGER, F ;
SCHREIER, PH ;
SMITH, AJH ;
STADEN, R ;
YOUNG, IG .
NATURE, 1981, 290 (5806) :457-465
[5]  
Andrievskaya E, 2004, HIGH TEMP MAT PR-ISR, V23, P147
[6]   Low "penetrance" of phylogenetic knowledge in mitochondrial disease studies [J].
Bandelt, HJ ;
Achilli, A ;
Kong, QP ;
Salas, A ;
Lutz-Bonengel, S ;
Sun, C ;
Zhang, YP ;
Torroni, A ;
Yao, YG .
BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS, 2005, 333 (01) :122-130
[7]   Mitochondrial genes and schizophrenia [J].
Bandelt, HJ ;
Yao, YG ;
Kivisild, T .
SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH, 2005, 72 (2-3) :267-269
[8]  
Bandelt HJ, 2004, SCIENCE, V305, P1402
[9]   Detecting errors in mtDNA data by phylogenetic analysis [J].
Bandelt, HJ ;
Lahermo, P ;
Richards, M ;
Macaulay, V .
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEGAL MEDICINE, 2001, 115 (02) :64-69
[10]   Artificial recombination in forensic mtDNA population databases [J].
Bandelt, HJ ;
Salas, A ;
Lutz-Bonengel, S .
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEGAL MEDICINE, 2004, 118 (05) :267-273