Mitochondria, prostate cancer, and biopsy sampling error

Abstract Mitochondria and their associated genome are emerging as sophisticated indicators of prostate cancer (PCa) biology. Alterations in the mitochondrial genome (mtgenome) have been implicated in cell proliferation, metastatic behavior, androgen independence, as a signal for apoptosis, and as a predictor of biochemical recurrence. Somatic mutation patterns in complete mtgenomes are associated with prostate specific antigen levels (PSA) in PCa patients and a large-scale mtgenome deletion (3.4kb) is consistent with a prostate cancerization field effect. This review will focus on the biological characteristics of mitochondria and their direct clinical application to PCa. Mitochondrial science is currently influencing clinical PCa diagnostics and the rapid progress in this area indicates future, break-through contributions in the general field of oncology.