Centre for Emerging Diseases, Department of Biotechnology, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, A-10, Sector 62, Noida 201307, UP, India.
Department of Genetics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Sep 23;21(19):6992. doi: 10.3390/ijms21196992.
Mitochondria are the key energy provider to highly proliferating cancer cells, and are subsequently considered one of the critical targets in cancer therapeutics. Several compounds have been studied for their mitochondria-targeting ability in cancer cells. These studies' outcomes have led to the invention of "mitocans", a category of drug known to precisely target the cancer cells' mitochondria. Based upon their mode of action, mitocans have been divided into eight classes. To date, different synthetic compounds have been suggested to be potential mitocans, but unfortunately, they are observed to exert adverse effects. Many studies have been published justifying the medicinal significance of large numbers of natural agents for their mitochondria-targeting ability and anticancer activities with minimal or no side effects. However, these natural agents have never been critically analyzed for their mitochondria-targeting activity. This review aims to evaluate the various natural agents affecting mitochondria and categorize them in different classes. Henceforth, our study may further support the potential mitocan behavior of various natural agents and highlight their significance in formulating novel potential anticancer therapeutics.
线粒体是高度增殖的癌细胞的主要能量提供者，因此被认为是癌症治疗的关键靶点之一。已经有几种化合物因其在癌细胞中线粒体靶向能力而被研究。这些研究的结果导致了“mitocans”的发明，这是一类已知能够精确靶向癌细胞线粒体的药物。根据它们的作用模式，mitocans 被分为八类。迄今为止，已经有不同的合成化合物被认为是潜在的 mitocans，但不幸的是，它们被观察到会产生不良反应。许多研究已经发表，证明了大量天然药物具有线粒体靶向能力和抗癌活性，且副作用最小或没有，具有重要的医学意义。然而，这些天然药物从未被严格分析过其线粒体靶向活性。本综述旨在评估影响线粒体的各种天然药物，并将其分为不同的类别。因此，我们的研究可能进一步支持各种天然药物的潜在 mitocan 行为，并强调它们在制定新型潜在抗癌治疗方法中的重要性。
