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Recommendations for transfer and mitochondria transference research

Most animal, vegetable and fungal cells contain organelles called mitochondria. These descendants of a primary bacterial endosimbionty still retain different genes and are known for their ability to create ATP as chemical energy. They also have other important functions, including cell signaling, viral and bacterial detection, cell division, cell death and innate and adaptive immune responses. Consequently, deterioration in mitochondrial function can lead to diseases related to aging and age.

An emerging research area is evolutionarily preserved transfer of mitochondria between cells. However, researchers lack unique and universally accepted terms and practices to describe such transfers. In the absence of an agreed nomenclature and standard practices, different researchers can use different methods and terminology to describe the same event, or they can use the same term that really describes two different processes.

“In recent years, we have come to understand that mitochondria can be transferred from one cell to another, and that isolated mitochondria can be transplanted as an organ transplant,” said Keshav K. Singh, PH.D., a professor at the University of Alabama in the Department of Genetics of Birmingham. “Although the origins of the transfer of mitochondria are not clear, it has been observed in evolutionarily diverse eukaryotes, including yeast, mollusks, fish and rodents, as well as human cells. We are beginning to understand how the alterations in this process contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease and how to take advantage of the transfer of mitochondria and the biology of the transplant to develop new therapies. “

In 2024, Singh and Jonathan Brestoff, MD, Ph.D., Faculty of Medicine of the University of Washington, Saint Louis, Missouri, established an international consortium on transfer and transplant of mitochondria and directed an international team of 31 researchers to develop consensus and recommendations on how to advance in the field by providing terminology and common characterizations for the transfer or transplantation of mitochondria. His consensus document, “recommendations for the transfer of mitochondria and the nomenclature and characterization of transplants”, is published in the magazine Nature metabolism.

The document begins with a brief history of the field: some fundamental early discoveries, recent studies of the mitochondrial transfer and the development of therapeutic approaches, including cell engineering tests and clinical trials for children that require oxygenation of extracorporeal membrane.

The document defines types of mitochondria transfer and mitochondria transplantation, and when the types of donor and accepting cells are established in vivo, which defines a mitochondria transfer axis. The document reviews the methods to define the transfer of mitochondria, including mitochondria reporters and colorants, the methods to enforce the transfer and discussion of the destination of the mitochondria after the cell input. The mechanism -based nomenclature is grouped approximately in the transfer of mitochondria dependent on the contact, where the donor cell and the receiving cell are touched with each other, and the transfer of mitochondria independent of the contact.

The recommendations also review the therapeutic approaches of the mitochondria transplant, including the definition of transplants; types, durability, grade of graft and heterogeneity of transplants; Cell engineering using extracellular mitochondria; and drugs that affect the transfer of mitochondria. Extracellular mitochondria are common in humans, for example, there are about 3 billion to 12 billion extracellular mitochondria in a blood platelet unit, a blood product that is routinely and safely transferred to patients intravenously.

The document concludes that “the objective of this proposed nomenclature is to reduce the confusion that can be caused by the introduction of different names for similar or subset processes of extracellular mitochondria as this field has evolved. We recognize that the transfer and transplant of mitochondria They are very active areas are very active areas.

Singh has a long -standing interest in mitochondria. He was a founder in the founding of the Mitochondrion magazine and the founder of the Mitochondria Research and Medicine Society. In 2007 and 2009, its laboratory showed that the isolated mitochondria can be transferred to human cells by coincubation, providing a proof of principle for the transfer of mitochondria by diffusion, and that the platelets of platelets transplanted with xeno the breast cancer At an early age he could recapitulate the aggressiveness of breast cancer in mice. At that time, these findings were not appreciated by the field, says Singh.

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