Mitochondria-Targeted Nanocarriers Promote Highly Efficient Cancer Therapy: A Review

Abstract

Mitochondria are the primary organelles which can produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP). They play vital roles in maintaining normal functions. They also regulated apoptotic pathways of cancer cells. Given that, designing therapeutic agents that precisely target mitochondria is of great importance for cancer treatment. Nanocarriers can combine the mitochondria with other therapeutic modalities in cancer treatment, thus showing great potential to cancer therapy in the past few years. Herein, we summarized lipophilic cation- and peptide-based nanosystems for mitochondria targeting. This review described how mitochondria-targeted nanocarriers promoted highly efficient cancer treatment in photodynamic therapy (PDT), chemotherapy, combined immunotherapy, and sonodynamic therapy (SDT). We further discussed mitochondria-targeted nanocarriers’ major challenges and future prospects in clinical cancer treatment.