Electron microscopy morphology of the mitochondrial network in gliomas and their vascular microenvironment

Gliomas still represent a serious and discouraging brain tumor; despite of the diversity of therapeutic modalities, the prognosis for patients is still poor. Understanding the structural and functional characteristics of the vascular microenvironment in gliomas is essential for the design of future therapeutic strategies. This review describes and analyzes the electron microscopy morphology of the mitochondrial network in human gliomas and their vascular microenvironment. Heterogeneous mitochondrial network alterations in glioma cells and in microvascular environment are implicated directly and indirectly in the processes linked to hypoxia-tolerant and hypoxia-sensitive cells phenotype, effects of the hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha, increased expression of several glycolytic protein isoforms as well as fatty acid synthase, and survivin. The prevalent existence of partial or total cristolysis observed suggests that oxidative phosphorylation is severely compromised. A mixed therapy emerged as the most appropriate. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Bioenergetics of Cancer. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.