Targeting Tumor and Tumor Microenvironment Vulnerabilities

Mitochondria are a vulnerable target for cancer therapy, and inventing new small molecules and therapeutic approaches selectively targeted to tumor mitochondria is an emerging area of research. Authors Balaraman Kalyanaraman, PhD, chair and professor of biophysics and the Harry R. & Angeline E. Quadracci Professor in Parkinson’s Research at MCW; Gang Cheng, PhD, assistant professor of biophysics at MCW; and Micael Hardy, PhD, at Aix-Marseille Université in France posit that mitochondria-targeted drugs combined with standard-of-care chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy are likely to have potentiating effects in cancer treatment.

Their review article, titled “Therapeutic Targeting of Tumor Cells and Tumor Immune Microenvironment Vulnerabilities,” which was published in Frontiers in Oncology, addresses therapeutic opportunities for targeting vulnerabilities in tumor cells and the tumor immune microenvironment, as well as the implications on cancer health disparities and cancer treatment.