Antibiotic Overusage Causes Mitochondrial Dysfunction Which May Promote Tumorigenesis

Mitochondria are dynamic intracellular organelles involved in many vital cellular functions. It is important to maintain good mitochondrial biogenesis and health. Mitochondrial dysfunction is known to be associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, such as, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In the 1930’s Warburg described a link between mitochondrial function and tumorigenesis. Modern Medicine has fallen prey to the overusage and misuse of antibiotics. This minireview postulates that this misuse may attack the mitochondrion and alter host-antibiotic interactions that might cause serious pathophysiologic conditions. One such condition may be cancer which was proposed by Warburg and supported by our work on normal mitochondria organelle transplantation in cancer. Some groups of antibiotics attack targets that are shared by prokaryotes and mitochondria. This leads to mitochondrial dysfunction possibly promoting tumorigenesis and neurodegenerative conditions.