Researchers identify for the first time a link between mitochondrial DNA mutations and patients' response to nivolumab. Which, they hope, will better predict patients likely to respond to these treatments.
Around half of human cancers have mutations in mitochondrial DNA that block the activity of mitochondria. They then draw their resources from an alternative pathway, glycolysis, which is between 10 and 18 less efficient. This trick allows cancer cells to escape the other major mode of action, that of inducing cell death.