Role of mitochondria in progression of cancer: a semi-quantitative study

Mitochondria have been an area of scientific study for more than 100 years. It was in early 20th century that Otto Warburg first described differences in the mitochondria of tumors v/s normal cells. It was observed that tumor cells have increased rate of aerobic glycolysis compared with normal cells. The study was carried out in patients diagnosed as premalignant and malignant conditions which had three objectives that is to demonstrate the presence or absence of mitochondria in cytological smears, in order to perform a semi-quantitative analysis on the number of mitochondria and to identify the difference in distribution mitochondria if any. The study was carried out in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology of S.P.D.C., Sawangi, Wardha with consent from patients and approval from the institutional ethical committee. 20 patients each diagnosed clinically and histo-pathologically with OSCC and Premalignant conditions or lesions respectively were selected for the purpose of the study. 20 subjects who had come for routine endodontic treatment were taken as control group for the purpose of the study. It was observed that there was even distribution of mitochondria throughout the cytoplasm in smear that had been taken from normal mucosa which appeared sharply defined whereas in premalignant mitochondria were located in the perinuclear zone and 10% in the peripheral zone and in malignant conditions distribution was sparse in the perinuclear area and appeared ill-defined