MtDNA mutations have been shown to play a role in tumourigenesis in cancers other than the brain, e.g., cell lines that harbor a ND5 gene mutation found in colon and renal adenocarcinomas, acute myeloid leukemia and ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma (reviewed) [33], when compared with wild-type cells, exhibits enhanced colony formation on agar and increased tumour growth when implanted into nude mice (reviewed in) [33]. Here, MT-ND5 is linked to papillary renal cell carcinoma.