Recently, Professor Jiang Hulin's team from the School of Pharmacy published their research findings titled “Super mitochondria-enriched extracellular vesicles enable enhanced mitochondria transfer” in the prestigious journal Nature Communications. Associate Researcher Wang Yi and 2022 Master's candidate Yu Haoyuan from our university's School of Pharmacy served as co-first authors. Professor Jiang Hulin from the School of Pharmacy is the sole corresponding author, with China Pharmaceutical University listed as the first corresponding institution.
Mitochondrial transfer is a spontaneous physiological process within the body used to rescue damaged cells, commonly occurring via mechanisms such as tunnel nanotubes and extracellular vesicles. However, spontaneous mitochondrial transfer often suffers from insufficient quantity or compromised quality, severely limiting the therapeutic efficacy of mitochondrial transplantation. To address this challenge, the research team built upon their prior work in mitochondrial transplantation and stem cell gene transfection techniques (ACS Nano, 2024, 18, 32705-32722; Acta Pharm Sin B, 2024, 14, 5435-5450; Adv Drug Deliv Rev, 2024, 211, 115355), engineered mesenchymal stem cells. By activating intracellular calcium-related pathways, they investigated mitochondrial behavior within these cells and the secretion process of mitochondrial-containing extracellular vesicles. This approach enhanced both the quantity and quality of mitochondria within extracellular vesicles, overcoming limitations in traditional mitochondrial-containing vesicle applications to achieve effective treatment for Leber hereditary optic neuropathy, a mitochondrial rare disease.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Key International (Regional) Collaborative Research Program, General Program, Youth Fund Program), Jiangsu Provincial Major Program for Basic Research on Frontier Technologies (Leading Technologies), Jiangsu Provincial Youth Fund Program, Changbai Mountain Elite Outstanding Team Project, and the National Key Laboratory of Multi-target Natural Medicines at China Pharmaceutical University.
Full text link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64486-9
