ΔmtDNA4977 Is More Common in Non-tumoral Cells from Gastric Cancer Sample

Unknown genetic aspects, ambiguous environmental factors and reactive oxygen species (ROS) can cause the ΔmtDNA4977 mutation rate to be increased in gastric cancer. The results suggest that percentage level of ΔmtDNA4977 is less common and intolerable in tumoral tissue, probably because of high metabolism and ROS generation. We supposed that the cells initially had ΔmtDNA4977 transform to tumoral cells and the existed deletion conferred metabolic disadvantage; thus, cells containing such a mtDNA deletion would be overgrown by other cancer cells without this mtDNA deletion. As a result, the presence of ΔmtDNA4977 will be low in tumoral cells.