Overview

• Mechanical squeezing of cancer cells induces formation of nucleus-associated mitochondria (NAMs) at the nuclear periphery within seconds.
• NAMs trigger a roughly 60% surge in nuclear ATP, enabling efficient DNA repair; cell cycle progression continues despite mechanical stress.
• Patient breast tumor samples show a threefold higher prevalence of NAMs at invasive fronts compared with dense tumor cores.
• An actin–endoplasmic reticulum scaffold physically anchors mitochondria to the nucleus; disrupting actin filaments collapses NAM formation, halting the ATP surge.
• Researchers are now pursuing therapeutic agents that dismantle the scaffold to block the NAM-driven energy boost; this strategy aims to hinder cancer cell invasiveness.