Xu Jiangsheng, Shamul James G, Kwizera Elyahb Allie, He Xiaoming
Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Feb 23;12(5):743. doi: 10.3390/nano12050743.
Mitochondria are critical subcellular organelles that produce most of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as the energy source for most eukaryotic cells. Moreover, recent findings show that mitochondria are not only the "powerhouse" inside cells, but also excellent targets for inducing cell death via apoptosis that is mitochondria-centered. For several decades, cancer nanotherapeutics have been designed to specifically target mitochondria with several targeting moieties, and cause mitochondrial dysfunction via photodynamic, photothermal, or/and chemo therapies. These strategies have been shown to augment the killing of cancer cells in a tumor while reducing damage to its surrounding healthy tissues. Furthermore, mitochondria-targeting nanotechnologies have been demonstrated to be highly efficacious compared to non-mitochondria-targeting platforms both in vitro and in vivo for cancer therapies. Moreover, mitochondria-targeting nanotechnologies have been intelligently designed and tailored to the hypoxic and slightly acidic tumor microenvironment for improved cancer therapies. Collectively, mitochondria-targeting may be a promising strategy for the engineering of nanoparticles for drug delivery to combat cancer.
线粒体是关键的亚细胞器，为大多数真核细胞产生大部分三磷酸腺苷（ATP）作为能量来源。此外，最近的研究结果表明，线粒体不仅是细胞内的“动力室”，也是通过以线粒体为中心的凋亡诱导细胞死亡的理想靶点。几十年来，癌症纳米疗法一直致力于设计多种靶向部分特异性靶向线粒体，并通过光动力、光热或/和化学疗法导致线粒体功能障碍。这些策略已被证明可以增强对肿瘤中癌细胞的杀伤，同时减少对周围健康组织的损害。此外，与非线粒体靶向平台相比，线粒体靶向纳米技术在体外和体内癌症治疗中均显示出高效性。而且，线粒体靶向纳米技术已被智能设计并适应缺氧和微酸性肿瘤微环境，以改善癌症治疗效果。总体而言，线粒体靶向可能是一种有前景的策略，用于设计纳米颗粒进行药物递送以对抗癌症。
