Cancer cells steal mitochondria from nerve cells to fuel their spread
Cancer cells can acquire energy-generating structures called mitochondria from nearby nerve cells, which seems to aid their spread, a discovery that could lead to new treatments
By Carissa Wong
25 June 2025
A nerve cell (stained green) growing among a cancer cell culture
Simon Grelet and Gustavo Ayala
Cancer cells steal energy-generating parts from nerve cells to fuel their spread to distant sites, a discovery that could improve treatments against the deadliest tumours.
“This is the first time that mitochondrial exchange has been demonstrated from nerves to cancer cells,” says Elizabeth Repasky at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, who wasn’t involved in the research. “It’s a major next step in cancer neuroscience, a field that’s exploding.”
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We already knew that nerve cells, or neurons, within and surrounding tumours produce proteins and electrical signals that help cancer grow and spread. “Cancers with higher nerve density are associated with poorer prognosis,” says Simon Grelet at the University of South Alabama.
Prior studies have also shown that brain cancer cells can acquire mitochondria – energy-generating structures – from non-neuronal brain cells. But it was unknown whether tumour cells could take mitochondria from nerve cells, says Grelet.
To find out, he and his colleagues genetically engineered breast cancer cells from mice to contain a red fluorescent molecule and mixed them with mouse nerve cells, containing mitochondria labelled with green pigment, in a lab dish. By imaging the cells, they found that cancer cells stole mitochondria from the nerve cells within a few hours.
