Mutations in circulating mitochondrial DNA: Cassandra of oral cancer?

Cell-free circulating nucleic acids in human blood are increasing being researched as a source of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for clinical oncology. High copy number per cell and frequent mutations in various malignancies make mitochondrial genome an attractive target for such an investigation, but practical development and validation of biomarkers based on cell-free mitochondrial DNA has been lagging. Uzawa and colleagues report in the July issue of Oncotarget that in a retrospective study of patients with oral cancer the load of mutant mitochondrial DNA in patient's serum was a strong indicator of postoperative recurrence. Based on these observations, the predictive value of circulating mutant mitochondrial DNA merits further evaluation in patients with oral and other malignancies.