Tumor cell mitochondrial matrix/cristae complexes as potential sites for anticancer therapy with polyunsaturated fatty acid analogues.

The consequences of incubating human cancer cells with ETYA, a competitive analogue of arachidonic acid, and the reported responses of cells cultured with polyunsaturated fatty acids indicate that polyunsaturated fatty acid analogues or their modified congeners could represent potential cytotoxic anticancer agents. The inner mitochondrial membrane and matrix may represent important targets for such agents, since they seem unusually susceptible to ETYA-induced oxidative stress.