It has been previously suggested that overexpression of mitochondrial
superoxide dismutase (SOD) attenuates
cancer development; however, the exact mechanism remains unclear. In this work, we have studied the direct effect of the mitochondria-targeted
superoxide scavenger, (2-(2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-oxyl-4-ylamino)-2-oxoethyl)triphenylphosphonium
chloride (
mitoTEMPO), on B16-F0 mouse
melanoma cells and
tumor growth in a nude mouse model of human
melanoma. We show that scavenging of mitochondrial
superoxide inhibited cell growth, reduced viability, and induced apoptosis in
melanoma cells, but did not affect nonmalignant skin fibroblasts. Diminished mitochondrial
superoxide inhibited redox-dependent Akt, restored activity of mitochondrial
pyruvate dehydrogenase, and reduced HIF1-α and
lactate dehydrogenase expression in
cancer cells. Suppression of glycolysis in
mitoTEMPO-treated
melanoma cells resulted in a significant drop of cellular adenosine-5'-triphosphate and induced cell death. In vivo
mitoTEMPO treatment effectively suppressed growth of established
tumor in the mouse model of human
melanoma. Therefore, our data lead to the hypothesis that scavenging of mitochondrial
superoxide selectively inhibits redox-sensitive survival and metabolic pathways, resulting in
cancer cell death. In contrast to existing anticancer
therapies, inhibition of mitochondrial
superoxide may represent a novel specific anticancer treatment with reduced cytotoxic side effects.