Mitochondria are considered as the power‐generating units of the cell due to their key role in energy metabolism and cell signaling. However, mitochondrial components could be found in the extracellular space, as fragments or encapsulated in vesicles. In addition, this intact organelle has been recently reported to be released by platelets exclusively in specific conditions. Here, we demonstrate for the first time, that blood preparation with resting platelets, contains whole functional mitochondria in normal physiological state. Likewise, we show, that normal and tumor cultured cells are able to secrete their mitochondria. Using serial centrifugation or filtration followed by polymerase chain reaction‐based methods, and Whole Genome Sequencing, we detect extracellular full‐length mitochondrial DNA in particles over 0.22 µm holding specific mitochondrial membrane proteins. We identify these particles as intact cell‐free mitochondria using fluorescence‐activated cell sorting analysis, fluorescence microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Oxygen consumption analysis revealed that these mitochondria are respiratory competent. In view of previously described mitochondrial potential in intercellular transfer, this discovery could greatly widen the scope of cell‐cell communication biology. Further steps should be developed to investigate the potential role of mitochondria as a signaling organelle outside the cell and to determine whether these circulating units could be relevant for early detection and prognosis of various diseases.

Spatially resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) measured by fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), provides a method for tracing the catalytic activity of fluorescently tagged proteins inside live cell cultures and enables determination of the functional state of proteins in fixed cells and tissues. Here, a dynamic marker of protein kinase Calpha (PKCalpha) activation is identified and exploited. Activation of PKCalpha is detected through the binding of fluorescently tagged phosphorylation site-specific antibodies; the consequent FRET is measured through the donor fluorophore on PKCalpha by FLIM. This approach enabled the imaging of PKCalpha activation in live and fixed cultured cells and was also applied to pathological samples.

Polarized cell movement is an essential requisite for cancer metastasis; thus, interference with the tumor cell motility machinery would significantly modify its metastatic behavior. Protein kinase C␣ (PKC␣) has been implicated in the promotion of a migratory cell phenotype. We report that the phorbol ester-induced cell polarization and directional motility in breast carcinoma cells is determined by a 12-amino-acid motif (amino acids 313 to 325) within the PKC␣ V3 hinge domain. This motif is also required for a direct association between PKC␣ and ␤1 integrin. Efficient binding of ␤1 integrin to PKC␣ requires the presence of both NPXY motifs (Cyto-2 and Cyto-3) in the integrin distal cytoplasmic domains. A cell-permeant inhibitor based on the PKC-binding sequence of ␤1 integrin was shown to block both PKC␣-driven and epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced chemotaxis. When introduced as a minigene by retroviral transduction into human breast carcinoma cells, this inhibitor caused a striking reduction in chemotaxis towards an EGF gradient. Taken together, these findings identify a direct link between PKC␣ and ␤1 integrin that is critical for directed tumor cell migration. Importantly, our findings outline a new concept as to how carcinoma cell chemotaxis is enhanced and provide a conceptual basis for interfering with tumor cell dissemination.An early critical step within the metastatic cascade involves cell polarization and directed cell movement. The mechanisms controlling these events, however, are poorly understood. Cell polarization signals can be triggered by the binding of cells to extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, cytokines or chemoattractants, or ligands that are expressed on the surface of target tissues or vessels. Sensing of these extracellular signals results in a redistribution and trafficking of membrane receptors (1, 19) and/or intracellular signaling proteins, as well as the localized formation of protein complexes which can be stable or transient.Members of the integrin receptor family are vital in mediating cell matrix adhesion and have been implicated in providing the persistence and directionality for cell motility, as in wound healing (7). Specifically, a number of studies have demonstrated that the ␤-subunit cytoplasmic domains are involved in the control of cell migration. Thus, the tyrosine residues of the two NPXY motifs in ␤1 are important for directed cell migration through integrin substrate-coated filters in response to growth factor chemotactic gradients (22,23). In fact, when expressed as chimeric receptors connected to heterologous extracellular domains, such as the interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) tac subunit, the ␤1 integrin cytoplasmic tail acts as a dominant negative inhibitor of endogenous integrin function (4). Moreover, inhibition of integrin-ECM interactions by GRGDS peptides or inhibitory antibodies was also shown to abolish the persistence or directionality of neural crest cell movement (7).Protein kinase C (PKC) may be seen as part of the molecular machinery that deciphers...