Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Oct 15, 2024; 15(10): 2015-2021
Published online Oct 15, 2024. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v15.i10.2015
Don´t give up on mitochondria as a target for the treatment of diabetes and its complications
Christian Cortés-Rojo, Manuel Alejandro Vargas-Vargas
Christian Cortés-Rojo, Manuel Alejandro Vargas-Vargas, Instituto de Investigaciones Químico - Biológicas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia 58030, Michoacán, Mexico
Author contributions: Cortés-Rojo C contributed to this paper with conception and design, literature review and analysis, manuscript drafting, and editing; Vargas-Vargas MA contributed to this paper with literature review, drafting, and illustrations; Both authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Instituto de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación - Gobierno del Estado de Michoacán, México, No. ICTI-PICIR23-063; and Programa Proyectos de Investigación Financiados 2024, Coordinación de Investigación Científica, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, México.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Christian Cortés-Rojo, BSc, MSc, PhD, Professor, Instituto de Investigaciones Químico - Biológicas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Edificio B-3, Ciudad Universitaria, Avenida Fco J Mujica, Morelia 58030, Michoacán, Mexico. christian.cortes@umich.mx
Received: May 27, 2024
Revised: June 29, 2024
Accepted: July 19, 2024
Published online: October 15, 2024
Processing time: 121 Days and 11 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress are closely linked to the development of diabetes and its complications. This has motivated the targeting of antioxidants to the mitochondria for diabetes treatment, which has generated in pre-clinical trials some encouraging results in diabetic complications, but inconsistent results in glycemic control. Moreover, there are very few studies with these molecules and only in healthy patients, with no encouraging results. There are several challenges to overcome to make mitochondria an efficient pharmacological target against diabetes, but recent developments such as mitochondrial transplantation, bioactive small peptides, and atomistic simulations could help to achieve this goal.