title: Mitochondria as therapeutic targets for the treatment of malignant disease.
abstract: CONCLUSIONS
  Mitochondria exert vital functions during normal physiology and are also centrally involved in the regulation of various modes of cell death. Thus, engaging the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway presents an attractive possibility to activate lethal effectors in cancer cells.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Compounds that directly target mitochondria offer the advantage to initiate mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization independently of upstream signal transduction elements that are frequently impaired in human cancers. As a consequence, mitochondrion-targeted agents may bypass some forms of drug resistance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An ever-increasing number of compounds, including natural compounds and rationally designed drugs, has been shown to directly act on mitochondria.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Forthcoming insights into the fine regulation of mitochondrial apoptosis will likely open future perspectives for cancer drug development.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Experimental Cancer Research in Pediatrics, Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. simone.fulda@kgu.de
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fulda
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kroemer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D051336:Mitochondrial Membranes / Q000378:metabolism; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D010539:Permeability / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents