Targeting mitochondria of cancer cells: Mechanisms and compounds

Mitochondria are being proposed and tested as plausible targets for cancer therapy. There are several reasons for this recent approach. Perhaps the most important one is the fact that mitochondria comprise potent inducers of apoptosis, therefore disruption of mitochondria with ensuing apoptotic cell death is a promising strategy for cancer therapy. Importantly, too, mitochondria of cancer cells differ from these organelles in normal cells, in particular in their altered bioenergetics, the former utilizing for their energetic needs aerobic glycolysis. Further, mitochondria of cancer cells are characterized by greater negative potential across the inner membrane, also contributing to the potential design and testing of cancer cell-selective compounds. Some of the agents that target mitochondria of cancer cells, based on their differences compared to mitochondria of normal cells, are currently undergoing pre-clinical and clinical testing, which gives hope to the potential establishment of efficient and selective anti-cancer agents.