title: Hypoxia therapy--a new hope for the treatment of mitochondrial dysfunctions.
abstract: Mitochondrial dysfunctions are characteristic features of numerous diseases and play a critical role in disease pathogenesis. Despite intensive research in this area, there are no approved therapies that directly target mitochondria. Recently a study by Jain et al. from Massachusetts General Hospital, USA reported the effectiveness of hypoxia for treatment of mitochondrial disease in mice. In this commentary, we summarized the potential mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of hypoxia on mitochondrial dysfunction, and clinical limitations of hypoxia as a therapy for human patients. We hope that our concerns will be helpful for further clinical studies addressing moderate hypoxia in mitochondrial dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Neuroscience, Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Department of Naval Aviation, the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jun-Long
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Anatol
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manaenko
authors.affiliation: Department of Naval Aviation, the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhou-Heng
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Department of Naval Aviation, the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xue-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Neuroscience, Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2270-8822
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Hu
keywords: Leigh syndrome; Von Hippel-Lindau factor; hypoxia; hypoxia-inducible factor-1α; mitochondrial dysfunction; neuroprotective; oxygen toxicity; respiratory chain