For many years mitochondria have been implicated in the process of carcinogenesis. At the beginning of 20th century Otto Warburg has started research focused on failure of oxadative metabolism in cancer cells. In his work he described disruption of respiration as typical for cancer cells. Warburgs discovery resulted in establishment of many projects focused on the role of mitochondria in cell transformation. Since that time multiple reasearch groups have reported mitochondria DNA mutations in majority types of cancer. Recently re-analyses of raw data has been published and have show multiple methodical errors in previous reports. This paper presents critical analysis and summary of mitochondria polymorphisms and somatic mutations reasearch in oncology. Literature analysis that includes latest methodological guidelines established for mtDNA analysis and evidence based medicine reports proves that cancer patients harbour specific pattern of inherited mtDNA polymorphisms and low number of somatic mutations. It seems that mitochondrial genotype (including haplotype) may be classified as cancer predisposing factor.