Biomineralize Mitochondria in Metal‐Organic Frameworks to Promote Mitochondria Transplantation From Non‐Tumorigenic Cells Into Cancer Cells - UTU Research Portal

A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Biomineralize Mitochondria in Metal‐Organic Frameworks to Promote Mitochondria Transplantation From Non‐Tumorigenic Cells Into Cancer Cells

Authors: Zhou, Jun‐Nian; Liu, Chang; Wang, Yonghui; Guo, Yong; Xu, Xiao‐Yu; Vuorimaa‐Laukkanen, Elina; Koivisto, Oliver; Filppula, Anne M.; Ye, Jiangbin; Zhang, Hongbo

Publisher: Wiley

Publishing place: HOBOKEN

Publication year: 2025

Journal: Smart medicine

Journal name in source: Smart Medicine

Journal acronym: SMART MED

Article number: e134

Volume: 4

Issue: 1

Number of pages: 16

ISSN: 2751-1871

eISSN: 2751-1871

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/smmd.134

Web address : https://doi.org/10.1002/smmd.134

Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/491586803

Abstract

Mitochondria are crucial to cellular physiology, and growing evidence highlights the significant impact of mitochondrial dysfunction in diabetes, aging, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancers. Therefore, mitochondrial transplantation shows great potential for therapeutic use in treating these diseases. However, transplantation process is notably challenging due to very low efficiency and rapid loss of bioactivity post-isolation, leading to poor reproducibility and reliability. In this study, we develop a novel strategy to form a nanometer-thick protective shell around isolated mitochondria using Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) through biomineralization. Our findings demonstrate that this encapsulation method effectively maintains mitochondria bioactivity for at least 4 weeks at room temperature. Furthermore, the efficiency of intracellular delivery of mitochondria is significantly enhanced through the surface functionalization of MOFs with polyethyleneimine (PEI) and the cell-penetrating peptide Tat. The successful delivery of mitochondria isolated from non-tumorigenic cells into cancer cells results in notable tumor-suppressive effects. Taken together, our technology represents a significant advancement in mitochondria research, particularly on understanding their role in cancer. It also lays the groundwork for utilizing mitochondria as therapeutic agents in cancer treatment.

Downloadable publication

This is an electronic reprint of the original article.
This reprint may differ from the original in pagination and typographic detail. Please cite the original version.

Smart Medicine - 2025 - Zhou - Biomineralize Mitochondria in Metal‐Organic Frameworks to Promote Mitochondria.pdf

Funding information in the publication:
This work was supported by the Research Project (No. 347897), Solution for Health Profile (No. 336355), InFLAMES Flagship (No. 337531) and Printed Intelligence Infrastructure (PII-FIRI) grants from Research Council of Finland, the program of China Scholarships Council (No. 201803170073, No. 201909110009) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82201287). Jun-Nian Zhou, Chang Liu, and Yonghui Wang contributed equally to this work.