title: Potential therapeutic benefits of strategies directed to mitochondria.
abstract: The mitochondrion is the most important organelle in determining continued cell survival and cell death. Mitochondrial dysfunction leads to many human maladies, including cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative disease, and cancer. These mitochondria-related pathologies range from early infancy to senescence. The central premise of this review is that if mitochondrial abnormalities contribute to the pathological state, alleviating the mitochondrial dysfunction would contribute to attenuating the severity or progression of the disease. Therefore, this review will examine the role of mitochondria in the etiology and progression of several diseases and explore potential therapeutic benefits of targeting mitochondria in mitigating the disease processes. Indeed, recent advances in mitochondrial biology have led to selective targeting of drugs designed to modulate and manipulate mitochondrial function and genomics for therapeutic benefit. These approaches to treat mitochondrial dysfunction rationally could lead to selective protection of cells in different tissues and various disease states. However, most of these approaches are in their infancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 53226, USA. aksc@mcw.edu <aksc@mcw.edu>
authors.forename: Amadou K S
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Camara
authors.forename: Edward J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Lesnefsky
authors.forename: David F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Stowe
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000378:metabolism; D004194:Disease; D015195:Drug Design; D004579:Electron Transport / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D010085:Oxidative Phosphorylation; D026361:Reactive Nitrogen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D026361:Reactive Nitrogen Species; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species