From Structure to Vulnerability: Mitochondrial Supercomplexes in Cancer Cells

Mitochondrial respiratory supercomplexes are emerging as key regulators of bioenergetics, redox homeostasis, and metabolic plasticity in cancer. Their assembly enhances electron transport efficiency, limits reactive oxygen species production, and supports the high oxidative and biosynthetic demands of tumor growth. Cancer cells remodel supercomplex organization in response to hypoxia, nutrient limitation, and therapeutic stress, enabling rapid metabolic adaptation. Multiple assembly factors-including COX subunits, HIGD1A/2A, COX7A2L (SCAF1), cardiolipin remodeling enzymes, and Complex I assembly factors such as NDUFAF1 and NDUFAF2-contribute to supercomplex stabilization and can be dysregulated in malignancy. Alterations in these factors enhance respiratory flexibility and therapy resistance, particularly in aggressive tumors such as glioblastoma. However, critical gaps remain, including incomplete understanding of the molecular mechanisms controlling supercomplex assembly and remodeling, limited validation of functional findings in primary patient-derived cells or clinical samples, and uncertainty regarding the contribution of supercomplex to therapy resistance and metabolic adaptation across tumor types. Advances in structural biology and functional imaging have uncovered tumor-specific vulnerabilities within supercomplex architecture that may be exploited therapeutically. Targeting supercomplex assembly, cardiolipin-protein interactions, or electron flux through individual supercomplex modules represents a promising approach to disrupt cancer metabolism and sensitize tumors to treatment. This review synthesizes current knowledge on supercomplex regulation, function, and therapeutic potential in cancer, and outlines key unanswered questions that remain to be addressed.