Progress Made in Enhancing Mitochondria

Cort

Founder of Health Rising and Phoenix Rising
Staff member
Researchers are testing how effective drugs are at improving mitochondrial functioning. Since the mitochondria can be dysfunctional in different they're testing separate pathways using worms...
While primary mitochondrial disorders are individually rare, hundreds of them exist, collectively affecting at least one in 5,000 individuals. Abnormal mitochondrial functions also play important roles in common conditions such as type 2 diabetes, epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, and even human aging.

Next it's onto humans. Dr. Bell long ago thought that different types of breakdowns in mitochondrial functioning were found in different kinds of ME/CFS. It's great to see this taken seriously.

"The team showed that other available human drugs also improved key metabolite levels in C. elegans. "In contrast to research that aims to repair defective mitochondria, we are bypassing the damaged mitochondria and focusing instead on how cells respond to mitochondrial problems," said Falk. "We're restoring the ratio of critical metabolic precursors and products that control signaling pathways, thereby improving overall cellular health in respiratory chain diseases."

"We're enthusiastic that we have reached a major threshold on the path toward bringing important new therapies to a very challenging group of diseases,"


"This work carries strong promise for identifying effective therapies for mitochondrial diseases," said study leader Marni J. Falk, M.D., director and attending physician in the Mitochondrial-Genetic Disease Clinic at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). "The drugs we used in this study improve cellular signaling in ways that could directly benefit patients. As all but one of the drugs are currently prescribed for other diseases, they're already available to now test in clinical trials in patients with mitochondrial disease."
 

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