Abstract
Mitochondria, a kind of subcellular organelle, play crucial roles in cancer cells as an energy source and as a generator of reactive substrates, which concern the generation, proliferation, drug resistance, and other functions of cancer. Therefore, precise delivery of anticancer agents to mitochondria can be a novel strategy for enhanced cancer treatment. Mitochondria have a four-layer structure with a high negative potential, which thereby prevents many molecules from reaching the mitochondria. Luckily, the advances in nanosystems have provided enormous hope to overcome this challenge. These nanosystems include liposomes, nanoparticles, and nanomicelles. Here, we summarize the very latest developments in mitochondria-targeting nanomedicines in cancer treatment as well as focus on designing multifunctional mitochondria-targeting nanosystems based on the latest nanotechnology.
Introduction
It has been generally recognized that DNA mutations lead to mitochondria disfunction and ultimately lead to various diseases including cancer (; ; Wang et al., 2020), mainly due to alterations in energy metabolism and the electron transport chain (ETC) system (Pathania et al., 2009; Zong et al., 2016; ; ). In recent years, numerous studies have shown that mitochondria, a kind of subcellular organelle, play crucial roles in cancer cells as an energy source and as a generator of reactive substrates, which concern the survival, invasion, proliferation, and drug resistance of cancer: (1) Mitochondria are indispensable for cancer survival: Mitochondrial glycolysis pathway on the basis of glutaminolysis promotes the generation of ATP to maintain the survival of tumor cells (Modica-Napolitano and Weissing, 2015; Khaled et al., 2021). In addition, autophagy is an important source of glutamine to regulate the mitochondrial energy metabolism in lung tumors (Strohecker et al., 2013; ; White et al., 2015). Furthermore, fatty acids also serve as another substrate for oxidation to facilitate the generation of mitochondrial ATP and consequently support the tumor survival (; Lin et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2021). (2) Mitochondria facilitate tumor metastasis and invasion: Tumor metastasis and invasion primarily rely on the oxidative phosphorylation of mitochondria. In this process, the peroxisome-proliferator regulator plays a crucial role in mitochondrial function and biogenesis by triggering the oxidative phosphorylation of mitochondria, which thereby stimulates the metastasis and invasion of the cancer cells (LeBleu et al., 2014; ; Liu L. et al, 2021). Energy metabolism allows for the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to activation of pyk2 and src protein tyrosine kinases, which ultimately stimulates and promotes tumor development and invasion (Xu et al., 2015). In cancer cells, the extra- and intracellular Ca2+ pools accumulating in mitochondria influence the permeability of mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mtPTP), which thereby affects tumor cell apoptosis (Qin et al., 2021; Madreiter-Sokolowski et al., 2021). (3) Mitochondria are related to multiple drug resistance: Genotoxic drugs trigger mitochondrial shift by means of regulating mitochondrial energy metabolism and upregulating mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, which results in drug resistance to chemotherapy (Lee et al., 2017; Lee et al., 2018). Researchers have confirmed that BRAF inhibitors trigger the oxidative phosphorylation of mitochondria, resulting in ROS generation in tumor cells. Mitochondrial oxidative metabolism may be another mechanism that reduces the anticancer effect of BRAF inhibitors (Haq et al., 2013). (4) Mitochondria are in charge of energy metabolism and tumor cell proliferation: Recent studies have illustrated that tumor cells could promote the generation of glutamine by oxidizing glucose-derived pyruvate through the pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH)-dependent pathway in mitochondria, which is crucial for tumor growth (Woolbright et al., 2019; Khan et al., 2020; Nie et al., 2020). Therefore, precise delivery of anticancer agents to mitochondria can be a novel strategy for enhanced cancer treatment (Weinberg and Chandel, 2015; Vasan et al., 2020; Guo et al., 2021; ; Zhu et al., 2021). Nowadays, various therapeutic strategies, such as chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy (PDT), photothermal therapy (PTT), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), chemodynamic therapy (CDT), and combined immunotherapy based on mitochondria targeting nanoplatforms, have been applied to achieve better therapy efficacy (Figure 1, from ). However, mitochondria have a four-layer structure with a high negative potential (−160 to −180 mV), which thereby prevents many molecules from reaching the mitochondria (; Tait and Green, 2010; ; ). Luckily, the development of nanotechnology has provided the great potential to overcome the membrane barriers. Multifunctional nanosystems can further improve the selectivity as well as enhance the efficacy of anticancer agents (Figure 2), considering the non-functionalized nanosystems’ drawbacks such as poor tumor cell targeting, rapid clearance during circulation, poor endosome/lysosome escape, and nonspecific toxicity (; Khatun et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2018; Song et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2020; ). Here, we summarize the very latest developments in mitochondria-targeting nanomedicines in cancer treatment as well as focus on designing multifunctional mitochondria-targeting nanosystems based on the latest nanotechnology.
FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2

Schematic illustration of targeted therapy on the basis of biomimetic nanoparticles (BNPs). (A) BNPs were injected intravenously. (B) BNPs passively target tumors through EPR effects. (C) BNPs actively target tumors through the stimulus-dependent and ligand-mediated pathway (
Mitochondria Targeting With the Aid of Multifunctional Nanosystems
DQAsomes
Dequalinium (DQA), a kind of mitochondria-specific targeting ligand with two delocalized cation centers, can self-assemble into liposome-like cationic vesicles known as DQAsomes (Horobin et al., 2007). DQAsomes are the earliest reported mitochondria-targeting nanoplatforms for delivery of plasmid DNA (pDNA) (
DQAsomes have been applied to precisely deliver many agents into the mitochondria without any off-target leakage (
Liposomes
Liposomes are tiny bilayer vesicles formed by phospholipids dispersed in water, which are generally biocompatible. Inspired by the success of DQAsomes, many liposomes systems based on the mitochondria-targeting ligands, such as TPP and STPP, have been constructed for mitochondrial targeted delivery. However, cellular toxicity of targeted liposomes is still unknown (
D-(KLAKLAK)2 (KLA), a positively charged, mitochondria-specific targeting peptide, has been confirmed to be a good targeting ligand for mitochondria and can damage the mitochondrial membrane as long as a threshold concentration (10 μmol) is reached. RGD (Arg-Gly-Asp) can effectively target vascular endothelial cells. Therefore, Sun et al. (2017) synthesized KLA-PEG2000 modified DSPE (KLA-PEG2000-DSPE) and cRGD-PEG2000 modified DSPE (cRGD-PEG2000-DSPE) as mitochondria- and vascular endothelial cell-targeting moieties, respectively. Then, sequentially tumor-targeting liposomes including these two targeting peptide-modified lipids were constructed to loading paclitaxel (PTX) to get PTX-loaded therapeutic liposomes (RGD-KLA/PTX-Lips). In their study, KLA and cRGD showed a cooperative effect in promoting the cellular uptake, which significantly lowered the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of RGD-KLA/PTX-Lips with 4T1 cells and human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs). The strong tumor growth inhibition (80.6%) and remarkable antineovascularization effects with no systemic toxicity were also achieved in RGD-KLA/PTX-Lips-treated 4T1 tumor-bearing BALB/c mice.
K peptide, another mitochondria-targeting peptide with a positive charge, can increase nanoparticle uptake into mitochondria and decrease mitochondrial membrane potential, trigger ATP depletion, contribute to cancer cell apoptosis, and consequently avoid MDR. RF peptide, a potent cell-penetrating peptide (CPP), can strengthen the intracellular uptake and facilitate the endosomal escape of nanoparticles. H peptide, isolated by phage display for binding to nerve/glial antigen 2 (NG2), has been proven to effectively target tumor neovasculature. Juang et al. (2019) applied those three peptides to decorate pH-sensitive solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) and pH-sensitive liposomes, and then miR-200 and irinotecan were loaded into those multifunctional SLN and liposomes, respectively, to obtain miR-200/omSLN-RFKH and Iri/omLip-RFKH. In their study, these specially designed nanoparticles exhibit pH-responsive release, synergistic effect in enhancing internalization, intracellular distribution, and mitochondrial localization in acidic pH of HCT116 cells. Under the combined treatment of Iri/Lip-RFKH and miR-200/SLN-RFKH, CRC cell apoptosis was observably enhanced and the anticancer effect was observably improved in colon tumor-bearing mice by modulating the EMT/apoptosis/MDR/β-catenin signaling pathways and suppressing the expression of cyclin D1, β-catenin, Rac-1, ZEB1, KRAS, P-gp, p-GSK-3β, Slug, c-Myc, MRPs, and Vimentin.
Inorganic Nanoparticles
Inorganic nanoparticles made from inorganic components such as graphene oxide, platinum, gold, silica, and carbon are ideal vehicles for targeted drug delivery, due to their ideal size, good stability, biocompatibility, high drug loading capacity, and easy modification of targeting moieties for mitochondria targeting. However, there are still many challenges in clinical transformation of inorganic nanoparticles. The biggest challenge is long-term toxicity in vivo, and whether they can be removed from the body remains to be proven (Hofmann et al., 2015;
Chemotherapy is the most traditional treatment to cancer therapy; however, low bioavailability and serious adverse reactions limit the clinical applications of some chemotherapy drugs. Therefore, it is urgently needed to develop new effective strategies to deliver the drugs into the mitochondria in a controlled manner. Pan et al. (2021) designed an ATP-triggered, zeolitic imidazole framework-90 (ZIF-90)-based nanosystem to trigger mitochondrial cascade reactions for precise and enhanced cancer therapy (Figure 3A). Firstly, they chose ZIF-90, a compound combined imidazolate-2-carboxyaldehyde and Zn2+ as the drug carrier, which has been widely used in drug delivery (
FIGURE 3

(A) Schematic illustration of the preparation of ATP-triggered 2-ME/TK-CPT@ZIF-90@C (MTZ@C) nanoparticles to initiate mitochondrial cascade reactions. When MTZ entered mitochondria, 2-ME was released owing to the ATP-triggered ZIF-90 decomposition. Then, 2-ME amplified the level of ROS in mitochondria, thus facilitating the effective release of parent CPT. (B) MTZ@C mitochondrial targeting ability. (C) SOD activity inhibition of 2-ME. (D) Dissected tumor images after administration for 2 weeks. (E) Tumor growth curves within 2 weeks after administration (Pan et al., 2021).
Although gold nanoparticles have been confirmed to be excellent drug delivery platforms for many drugs, they are not desirable vehicles of PTT agents because of their poor photothermal conversion efficiency and their poor endosome/lysosome escape capability (
The ROS elimination by the high concentration of GSH in cancer cells (
Polymeric Nanoparticles
Polymeric nanoparticles are self-assembled from amphiphilic blocks or grafted polymers, which are biodegradable, biocompatible, and easily modifiable and possess both hydrophobic cores and hydrophilic shells (Kamaly et al., 2012;
Triphenylphosphine (TPP), with its high lipophilicity and delocalized positive charge, thus possessing both mitochondrial targeting and mitochondrial damaging functions, is the first small molecule applied to mitochondrial targeting. Till now, TPP has been extensively used to design various mitochondria-targeting nanosystems (Wang R. et al., 2020; Lee et al., 2021; Sun et al., 2021). On the other hand, all-trans retinoic acid (RA), a metabolite of vitamin A, can bind to cellular retinoic acid-binding protein II (CRABP-II) very easily, and this tight-binder exhibits super affinity to the nuclear RA receptor, which allows for the precise nuclear targeting (Majumdar et al., 2011; Zhou, et al., 2017;
Polydopamine (PDA), a derivate of dopamine, has been used as a delivery platform owing to its excellent advantages such as easy synthesis, excellent biocompatibility, facile modification, and high drug loading ability (Mrówczyński et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2018;
Considering that cationic nanocarriers have strong cytotoxicity, poor serum stability, and rapid elimination by RES (
SDT has a great potential to inhibit the growth of tumor cells and trigger antitumor immune responses (
FIGURE 4

(A) PIH-NO for enhanced SDT and immune response. PIH-NO was developed by HSA-NO-loaded PFC and IR780. After injection, it could achieve increased blood perfusion and enhanced EPR effect as well as relieve hypoxia. With ultrasound irradiation treatment, it could quickly release O2 and NO to facilitate SDT, destroy mitochondria, and promote DC maturation. The production of NO and RNS could polarize M2 to M1 macrophages and decrease MDSC to reverse immunosuppressive TME. All of the above approaches facilitated CD8+ T-cell infiltration to inhibit tumor growth. (B) ROS production. (C) NO release after different treatments. (D) Mitochondrial damage (green fluorescence indicated mitochondrial damage). (E) Calreticulin exposure, (F) ATP release, and (G) HMGB-1 release indicating immunogenic cell death. (H) Tumor growth curves after administration. (I, J) The proportion of M2 to M1 macrophages. (K) Percentages of MDSCs after administration (Ji et al., 2021).
DNA Nanostructures
Owing to the unique superiorities of DNA nanostructures including high stability, controllable size and shape, high functional group density, convenient chemical modifications, favorable biodegradability, and biocompatibility, DNA nanostructures are a promising platform for drug delivery and bioimaging. Nowadays, DNA nanostructure-based applications in chemotherapy, PDT, bioimaging, and therapeutic oligonucleotides have been widely reported. Nevertheless, there are still many problems that need to be solved. The pharmacokinetics of DNA nanostructures need to be further studied. More importantly, the biological safety of DNA nanostructures is still unknown. Although DNA nanostructures are biocompatible and biodegradable, whether the foreign DNA sequences in DNA nanostructures can result in harmful gene recombination need to be confirmed (Hu et al., 2019;
Polymeric Nanomicelles
Polymeric nanomicelles are well-organized supramolecular structures formed by self-assembly of amphiphilic polymers in aqueous media, whose hydrophobic “inner cores” are responsible for loading lipophilic drugs and controlling the drug release behavior, and whose hydrophilic “outer shells” are in charge of improving the pharmacokinetic properties in blood circulation. Polymeric nanomicelles have been proven to be a promising nanodrug platform owing to their advantages including good biocompatibility, economy, and ease of further modification to facilitate targeted delivery. In addition, nanosystems-based biological imaging, especially fluorescent nanomicelles, emerges as an ideal cancer screening tool. However, the clinical application of fluorescent nanomicelles is strictly limited, because of drug leakage in blood, nonspecific toxicity, and rapid clearance by plasma (Li et al., 2019; Tawfik et al., 2020). Although TPP-conjugated derivatives possess both mitochondrial targeting and mitochondrial damaging functions just like TPP, those lipophilic cation derivatives could be eliminated in blood quickly (Khatun et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2018; Song et al., 2018). Chondroitin sulfate (CS), as an anionic and a CD44 acceptor, can be employed to modify nanoparticles, and this can prolong blood circulation as well as endow an active targeting ability to the cell membrane (Liu M. et al., 2018; Lee et al., 2020; Li et al., 2021). Herein, Zhang et al. (2020) developed pH/redox dual-sensitive, mitochondria/cell membrane synergic targeting nanomicelles for mitochondrial targeted therapy. Briefly, the nanomicelles loaded with DOX were based on TPP-decorated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-poly (D, L-lactide) (PLA) copolymers (TPP-PEG-ss-PLA). Among them, TPP-PEG-ss-PLA copolymers were constructed by using disulfide bonds, which could self-assemble into nanomicelles and promote quick release of DOX when the nanomicelles disassembled in GSH-triggered redox responsiveness. To prolong the half-life of nanomicelles and facilitate the endocytosis of cancer cells, positively charged TPP-PEG-ss-PLA were transformed into negatively charged via modifying the nanomicelles with CS. As long as the vehicles reached lysosomes/endosomes, the CS layer (negatively charged) could fall off when the pH changed from 7.4 to 5.5, facilitating the expose of the TPP and charge reversal on the surface of nanomicelles. In their study, DOX-loaded CS/TPP-PEG-ss-PLA nanomicelles exhibited significant synergistic antitumor effect owing to overproduction of ROS in the mitochondria induced by TPP and mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA damage induced by DOX.
Pluronic P85 (P85), a widely used surfactant, has been proven to reverse drug resistance in previous studies (Hong et al., 2013;
D-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol succinate (TPGS) has been widely applied as a carrier material owing to its capability of downregulating the expression of P-gp for overcoming multidrug resistance (MDR) and good amphiphilicity in favor of improving the penetration and circulation time of drug delivery systems (DDS) (
Although many mitochondria-targeting nanoparticles have been used to enhance cancer treatment, the leakage of drugs in cytoplasm and lysosome is challenging for all researchers when the therapeutic nanoparticles get inside the cancer cells (Wong and Choi, 2015; Xiong et al., 2016; Huang et al., 2021). As we know, the pH value of tumor cell mitochondria is approximately 8.0 (Matsuyama et al., 2000; Zhao et al., 2020). Thus, Tan et al. (2018) constructed a mitochondrial alkaline-responsive drug delivery system loading an acidic drug, which could not only facilitate fast drug release in mitochondria to improve the anticancer efficiency, but also decrease the nonspecific toxicity observably by means of reducing the drug leakage in the neutral cytoplasm and acidic lysosome. In their study, they used lipophilic cation CTPP (a kind of TPP derivative) to decorate glucolipid-like conjugates (chitosan-stearic acid copolymer, CSOSA) as a mitochondria-targeting platform, which could self-assemble into nanomicelles (CTPP-CSOSA). Then, celastrol (Cela), a kind of weakly acidic drug, which could react on mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) complex I and trigger ROS accumulation, was loaded into CTPP-CSOSA to obtain CTPP-CSOSA/Cela. It confirmed that CTPP-CSOSA/Cela showed fast drug release in mitochondria with decreased drug leakage in the lysosome and cytoplasm, induced remarkably intensive ROS levels, had an enhanced accumulation in tumor tissue, and showed significant antitumor effect by decreasing mitochondrial membrane potential, promoting cytochrome c release, and upregulating caspase 3 and caspase 9.
Hsp90 can quickly fix thermal damage to proteins thus causing heat resistance of tumor cells (Schopf et al., 2017; MoránLuengo et al., 2019). Therefore, synergistic application of Hsp90 inhibitor and mild-temperature photothermal therapy (MT-PTT) can effectively inhibit Hsp90 expression in tumors, overcome tumor thermal resistance, and realize efficient mild-temperature heating effects without thermal damage to surrounding tissues (Wang et al., 2016; Yang et al., 2019a;
Although nanoparticles provide a platform for the in vivo applications of mitochondria-targeting PDT, their poor cancer cell membrane-targeting ability is not good for further mitochondrial targeting only (subcellular targeting) by tumor cells. Peng et al. (2020) developed a sequential-targeting (tumor cell membrane and mitochondrial targeting) delivery system (named C6-loaded BioPEGDMA@TPPM) on the basis of the core-shell structure. Among them, mitochondria-targeting, chlorin e6-loaded cationic amphiphilic copolymer (C6-loaded TPPM) served as the core, and tumor cell membrane-targeting, pH-sensitive charge reversal layer based on the 2,3-dimethylmaleic anhydride (DMA)-decorated Biotin-PEG4000-NH2 (BioPEGDMA) served as the shell. In their study, Ce6-loaded BioPEGDMA@TPPM was firstly cell membrane-targeted and effectively accumulated in the tumor tissue with the aid of Biotin moiety. Then, Ce6-loaded BioPEGDMA@TPPM was mitochondria-targeted facilitated by TPP. Among them, TPP exposed through acid-triggered charge reversal from negative to positive, which ultimately enhanced the PDT efficacy of Ce6 and simultaneously stimulated immune responses by upregulating expression of TNF-α, IFN-γ, and CD3+ in tumor tissues, facilitating activation of DCs, CD3+/CD4+, and CD3+/CD8+ T lymphocytes in lymph glands as well as tumor tissues.
The sufficient drug concentration in mitochondria is an indispensable premise for nanoparticles contributing to better anticancer effects (Wen et al., 2016; Zielonka et al., 2017). Therefore, mitochondrial-triggered drug release in mitochondria is urgently essential (
FIGURE 5

(A) The NIR-triggered DDS with mitochondria-sensitive drug release and heat shock capabilities. Under NIR, IR780-CSOSA/DOX nanomicelles selectively targeted mitochondria and achieved photothermal conversion, which photothermally triggered DOX release and heat shock in mitochondria, leading to a cascading effect on ROS burst to achieve amplified therapeutic efficacy. (B) NIR-triggered DOX release in PBS (pH 6.8). (C) ROS levels in MCF-7. (D) Levels of apoptosis proteins in MCF-7. 0: control, 1: DOX, 2: CSOSA/DOX, 3: IR780-CSOSA, 4: IR780-CSOSA/DOX. (E) DOX release into the mitochondria in MCF-7. (F) Tumor growth curves after administration (Tan et al., 2019).
CDT is a novel therapeutic strategy based on the weakly acidic microenvironment of tumor as reaction conditions, overexpressed H2O2 in tumor sites as reaction raw materials, and ferrous ion (Fe2+) as catalyst, which can trigger Fenton or Fenton-like reaction in tumor cells and catalyze H2O2 to produce hydroxyl radical (·OH) and ROS so as to induce tumor cell apoptosis (Nie et al., 2019; Shen et al., 2020; Tian et al., 2020). On the other hand, lonidamine, an antiglycolytic drug, has been shown to interfere tumor energy metabolism by inhibiting hexokinase (Nath et al., 2016;
Conclusion and Future Prospect
Mitochondria, a kind of subcellular organelle, play crucial roles in cancer cells as an energy source and as a generator of reactive substrates, which concern the survival, invasion, proliferation, and drug resistance of cancer. Thus, mitochondrial-targeting DDS-based nanosystems could be novel strategies for enhanced cancer treatment. In this review, we summarize the very latest developments of mitochondria-targeting nanomedicines in cancer treatment as well as focus on designing multifunctional mitochondria-targeting nanosystems based on the latest nanotechnology. As we discussed above, numerous multifunctional mitochondrial-targeting DDS, such as nanoparticles, liposomes, and nanomicelles, have been constructed for chemotherapy, PDT, PTT, immunotherapy, combined therapy, etc., to achieve better therapy efficacy. The mechanism of those multifunctional mitochondrial-targeting nanomedicines is to induce intrinsic cell apoptosis and/or cell necrosis mediated by interfering with energy metabolism, increasing exogenous ROS, damaging mtDNA, destroying redox homeostasis, regulating mitochondrial proteins, inducing mitophagy, or triggering the immune response. There is no doubt that multifunctional mitochondrial-targeting-based nanoplatforms provide a new field in nanotechnology for precise subcellular targeting.
Nevertheless, we must recognize that there is still a long way to go when multifunctional mitochondrial-targeting nanomedicines can be used in clinic. First of all, the most important thing is biosafety, as is known to all that both biosafety and effectiveness are the essential safeguards that nanomedicines can be included in clinical application. Therefore, it is urgently needed to construct more biocompatible nano-vehicles through practical design. For instance, polydopamine (PDA)- or tetrahedral DNA (TDNs)-based nanomedicines have been used for mitochondrial targeting recently, which showed excellent biocompatibility. In addition to promoting biosafety, the amount of nanomedicines that can reach tumor cells and eventually accumulate in mitochondria is still a hair off a bull’s back. Therefore, a multistage targeted DDS capable of realizing both tumor cell membrane and mitochondria targeting is highly desirable. For instance, tumor cell-specific ligands such as Biotin, cRGD, H peptide, and modified mitochondrial-targeting nanomedicines have shown enhanced cellular uptake and antitumor effects. Last, the insufficient drug concentration in mitochondria is another obstacle that hinders mitochondrial-targeting nanomedicines from contributing better anticancer effects. To overcome this challenge, utilizing the unique alkaline microenvironment (pH 8.0) of mitochondria can realize fast drug release in mitochondria; in addition, with the aid of external stimulation, such as NIR, laser irradiation, and US, the drug release of nanomedicines in mitochondria can also be precisely controlled. All in all, it would be highly desirable to design “smart, multifunctional, mitochondria targeted-delivery” nanomedicines for precise cancer treatment, which need more in-depth study and exploration by researchers from different fields.
In addition to cancer therapy, mitochondria-targeted nanomedicines also offer a promising hope for the treatment of other mitochondria-related diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. It should be pointed out that we may face bigger challenges in breaking through the blood–brain barrier and delivering drugs to targeting sites effectively for these diseases. Altogether, although there are many challenges and problems that need to be solved in designing mitochondria-targeting-based nanomedicines, we firmly believe that these difficulties will ultimately be overcome and more stirring breakthroughs will be achieved in the near future.
Statements
Author contributions
TH wrote the manuscript. ZQ and CS performed the work of review. H-LG and Z-YH designed the work of review.
Funding
The authors were grateful for funding from the 1.3.5 project for disciplines of excellence - clinical research incubation project, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (No. 2021HXFH064), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2020YFC2008302), and the Sichuan Science and Technology program (No. 2019YFG0266).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Publisher’s note
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Summary
Keywords
mitochondria, targeted drug delivery systems, liposomes, nanoparticles, nanomicelles
Citation
Hu T, Qin Z, Shen C, Gong H-L and He Z-Y (2021) Multifunctional Mitochondria-Targeting Nanosystems for Enhanced Anticancer Efficacy. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 9:786621. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.786621
Received
30 September 2021
Accepted
01 November 2021
Published
24 November 2021
Volume
9 - 2021
Edited by
Jie Liu, Jinan University, China
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© 2021 Hu, Qin, Shen, Gong and He.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Han-Lin Gong, 9463382@qq.com; Zhi-Yao He, heyaode@163.com, zhiyaohe@scu.edu.cn
This article was submitted to Nanobiotechnology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
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