Delivery to mitochondria: a narrower approach for broader therapeutics.

Introduction: Research has revealed a relationship between mitochondrial dysfunction and diseases such as diabetes, ischemia-reperfusion injury, cancer and many more. As a result, mitochondria have gained attention as a target organelle for the treatment of many diseases. Successful delivery of the drug molecule to the mitochondria could be achieved by keeping in mind the normal intracellular trafficking fate of molecules in cell as well as through the mitochondria and exploring the new possibilities to reach the target in an efficient manner.

Intracellular delivery of redox cycler-doxorubicin to the mitochondria of cancer cell by folate receptor targeted mitocancerotropic liposomes.

Cancer cells reflect higher level of ROS in comparison to the normal cell, so they become more vulnerable to further oxidative stress induced by exogenous ROS-generating agents. Through this a novel therapeutic strategy has evolved, which involves the delivery of redox cycler-doxorubicin (DOX) to the mitochondria of cancer cell where it acts as a source of exogenous ROS production. The purpose of this study is to develop a liposomal preparation which exhibits a propensity to selectively target cancer cell along with the potential of delivering drug to mitochondria of cell.