REVIEW article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neurological Biomarkers
This article is part of the Research TopicResearch Progress on Mitochondria-Related Neurodegenerative DiseaseView all articles
Receptor-mediated mitophagy: A new target of neurodegenerative diseases
Provisionally accepted
- 1Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
- 2Guangyuan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangyuan, China
- 3Chengdu First People's Hospital, Chengdu, China, Chengdu, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Neurodegenerative diseases are a category of neurological conditions with high prevalence that pose major treatment challenges. Common pathologies involve protein accumulation and mitochondrial damage. Mitophagy maintains cellular homeostasis by removing defective mitochondria, which are associated with the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Although the ubiquitin-dependent mitophagy mediated by the PINK1–Parkin pathway has been extensively studied, growing evidence indicates that receptor-mediated mitophagy plays a crucial compensatory role in neurons, particularly when the PINK1–Parkin pathway is impaired. This review focuses on the emerging field of receptor-mediated mitophagy, systematically elaborating its role as a key homeostatic mechanism operating independently of the canonical PINK1/Parkin pathway. It provides a focused analysis of the specific functions and activation mechanisms of key receptors—including BNIP3, NIX, FUNDC1, and AMBRA1—in models of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Furthermore, this review explores the clinical potential of targeting these specific receptors for precise intervention, aiming to provide a new theoretical foundation and direction for developing therapeutic strategies against neurodegenerative diseases.
Keywords: Neurodegenerative Diseases, PINK1/Parkin-independent mitophagy, AutophagyReceptors, Mitochondria, mitophagy, Mitochondrial dysfunction
Received: 14 Jul 2025; Accepted: 05 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Yang, Chen, Liu, Yuan and Zhang. 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) or licensor 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:
Shiqing Yuan, yuanshiqing@cdutcm.edu.cn
Tiane Zhang, zhte2003@cdutcm.edu.cn
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.