Progress in the study of anti-tumor drugs targeting mitochondria

Cancer poses a significant yet concealed threat to human health, necessitating the prompt pursuit of efficacious anti-tumor tactics. Mitochondria, functioning as a intracellular energy generator, participate in numerous vital physiological processes and serve as pivotal determinants in the proliferation and metabolism of tumor cells. Consequently, targeting of mitochondria is deemed a burgeoning and auspicious anti-tumor strategy that can leverage the highly negative electrical characteristics of the mitochondrial inner membrane to selectively aim at tumor cells via specific targets. Moreover, targeting of mitochondria has the potential to decrease the emergence of tumor drug resistance and partially surmount the multidrug resistance (MDR) of tumors that arise from conventional chemotherapy, thereby augmenting the effectiveness of conventional drugs. The aim of this manuscript is to examine the design principles and mechanisms of action of targeted mitochondrial antitumor drugs, and to introduce innovative and efficacious mitochondria-targeted adjuvant combination therapy strategies in cancer chemotherapy, with the intention of furnishing a point of reference for the advancement of mitochondria-targeted drugs.