Cancer cells survive and adapt to many types of stress including hypoxia, nutrient deprivation, metabolic, and oxidative stress. These stresses are sensed by diverse cellular signaling processes, leading to either degradation of mitochondria or alleviation of mitochondrial stress. This review discusses signaling during sensing and mitigation of stress involving mitochondrial communication with the endoplasmic reticulum, and how retrograde signaling upregulates the mitochondrial stress response to maintain mitochondrial integrity. The importance of the mitochondrial unfolded protein response, an emerging pathway that alleviates cellular stress, will be elaborated with respect to cancer. Detailed understanding of cellular pathways will establish mitochondrial stress response as a key mechanism for cancer cell survival leading to cancer progression and resistance, and provide a potential therapeutic target in cancer.

癌细胞存活并适应多种类型的压力，包括缺氧、营养缺乏、代谢和氧化压力。这些压力由不同的细胞信号过程感知，导致线粒体降解或线粒体压力减轻。本综述讨论了涉及线粒体与内质网通讯的压力感知和缓解过程中的信号传导，以及逆行信号如何上调线粒体应激反应以维持线粒体完整性。线粒体未折叠蛋白反应是一种减轻细胞压力的新兴途径，其重要性将在癌症方面得到阐述。