Mitochondria are essential cellular organelles, controlling multiple signalling pathways critical for cell survival and cell death. Increasing evidence suggests that mitochondrial metabolism and functions are indispensable in tumorigenesis and cancer progression, rendering mitochondria and mitochondrial functions as plausible targets for anti-cancer therapeutics. In this review, we summarised the major strategies of selective targeting of mitochondria and their functions to combat cancer, including targeting mitochondrial metabolism, the electron transport chain and tricarboxylic acid cycle, mitochondrial redox signalling pathways, and ROS homeostasis. We highlight that delivering anti-cancer drugs into mitochondria exhibits enormous potential for future cancer therapeutic strategies, with a great advantage of potentially overcoming drug resistance. Mitocans, exemplified by mitochondrially targeted vitamin E succinate and tamoxifen (MitoTam), selectively target cancer cell mitochondria and efficiently kill multiple types of cancer cells by disrupting mitochondrial function, with MitoTam currently undergoing a clinical trial.
https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/21/7941/htm
What exactly are mitochondria?
Mitochondria (the singular is mitochondrion, by the way) are organelles – essential parts of your cells that keep them running properly. Mitochondria are in almost every cell in your body.
If your cell is a car, the mitochondrion is the engine. An engine takes gas and turns it into energy in the form of heat; similarly, a mitochondrion takes the broken down food you eat (either glucose from carbs and protein, or ketones from fat) and turns it into energy, in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
Here’s a quick look at how you produce energy:
-You eat food -You digest the food in your stomach and small intestine -The digested food goes through the wall of your small intestine, into your blood, and to your liver -Your liver bundles up packets of digested food (in the form of either sugar or ketones) and sends them back into your blood -These little packets zoom around your bloodstream until they find a cell that needs energy -When they do, they go to that cell’s mitochondrion, where they pass through the mitochondrial membrane -The mitochondrion grabs the packet and sends it through the Krebs cycle (the cycle of chemical reactions that are the major source of energy in living organisms) and the electron transport chain, producing ATP (energy) -Your cell uses that ATP (an organic compound that provides energy to drive many processes in living cells) for fuel
ATP powers nearly every cell in your body. Walking, thinking, working out, moving your eyes to read these words - all of it happens because your mitochondria are hidden away in your cells right now, cranking out tons of ATP.
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src - https://www.amplemeal.com/blogs/home/how-to-make-your-mitochondria-stronger (mirror)
origin - https://www.pipiscrew.com/2020/11/mitocans-revisited-mitochondrial-targeting-as-efficient-anti-cancer-therapy/ mitocans-revisited-mitochondrial-targeting-as-efficient-anti-cancer-therapy