Development of artificial mitochondria with cell-symbiosis ability

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K21872
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 90:Biomedical engineering and related fields
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Yamada Yuma 北海道大学, 薬学研究院, 准教授 (60451431)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 薬物送達システム / ミトコンドリア / 共生 / 移植 / オルガネラ製剤

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Mitochondria transplantation therapy, in which mitochondria are transplanted into diseased cells, could be a very useful, but there is a problem in that optimal symbiosis (cellular internalization and mitochondrial communication) for therapeutic efficacy has not been achieved. The aim of this research was to develop artificial mitochondria with enhanced symbiotic ability for use in therapeutic applications. This research proposal includes (i) the formulation of artificial mitochondria and the optimization of their intracellular dynamics, (ii) validation of their therapeutic efficiency using a model of mitochondrial disease cells. A number of results regarding the development of artificial mitochondria have been achieved and evaluated in preliminary experiments.

Free Research Field

薬物送達学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究で開発を進めた人工ミトコンドリアは、オルガネラ製剤という新たな領域を拓き、根本的な治療が難しいミトコンドリア病などの治療に大きく貢献する事が期待される。さらに、組織・個体レベルでの人工ミトコンドリアの移植が実現すれば新たなモデル動物を作出し、ミトコンドリアが関連する個体レベルの生命現象の生体制御研究を世界に先駆けて着手する事が可能になる。本申請研究で得た知見は、我が国の科学技術発展および新薬開発にも大きく貢献するが期待される。