Dysfunctional mitochondrial respiration can be targeted to induce death in drug resistant B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Reprogramming of cellular pathways is a crucial mechanism of drug resistance and survival in refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells. In the present study, we performed an unbiased gene expression analysis study and identified a dysfunctional mitochondrial respiration program in drug resistant ALL cells that were grown in a co-culture system with bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC). Specifically, the activity of the complexes within the electron transport chain was observed to be significantly downregulated and this correlated with decreased mitochondrial mass and ATP production in drug resistant ALL cells.