Targeting drugs to mitochondria

Abstract

Mitochondria are of an increasing interest in pharmaceutical and medical research since it has been reported that dysfunction of these organelles contributes to several diseases with a great diversity of clinical appearance. By the fact that mitochondria are located inside the cell and, in turn, origins of mitochondrial diseases or targets of drugs are located inside mitochondria, a drug molecule has to cross several barriers. This is a severe drawback for the selective accumulation of drug molecules in mitochondria. Therefore, targeting strategies such as direct drug modification or encapsulation into nanocarriers have to be applied to achieve an accumulation of drug molecules in these organelles. In this review, it will be demonstrated how properties and dysfunctions of mitochondria are generating a need for the development of mitochondria specific therapies. Furthermore, intracellular targets of mitochondrial diseases, strategies to utilize mitochondrial specificities and targeting approaches will be discussed. Finally, techniques to investigate mitochondrial characteristics and functionality are reviewed.