While the mitochondrion has long fascinated biologists and the sheer diversity of druggable targets has made it attractive for potential drug development, there has been little success translatable to the clinic. Given the diversity of inborn errors of metabolism and mitochondrial diseases, mitochondrially mediated oxidative stress (myopathies, reperfusion injury, Parkinson’s disease, ageing) and the consequences of disturbed energetics (circulatory shock, diabetes, cancer), the potential for meaningful gain with novel drugs targeting mitochondrial mechanisms is huge both in terms of patient quality of life and health care costs. In this themed issue of the British Journal of Pharmacology, we highlight the key directions of the contemporary advances in the field of mitochondrial biology, emerging drug targets and new molecules which are close to clinical application. Authors’ contributions are diverse both in terms of species and organs in which the mitochondrially related studies are performed, and from the perspectives of mechanisms under study. Defined roles of mitochondria in disease are updated and previously unknown contributions to disease are described in terms of the interface between basic science and pathological relevance.

Getting older is a fact of life. As we age, we can grow bigger, smarter and stronger. But at a certain point, our bodies often start to slow down. The idea behind why we age and why our bodies slow down is that we start to lose the ability to make enough energy to support all the different functions that our body carries out.

Hazel H. Szeto, MD, PhD, is a medical doctor and a research scientist. She may have found the answer to reversing the aging process by restoring a person’s ability to make energy. Szeto presented her work last month at Experimental Biology 2021.

To better understand Szeto’s discovery, we must first understand how the body makes energy. We produce energy in the form of a small molecule called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. When ATP is broken down, it releases energy that allows our bodies to do work, such as contracting the muscles in our arms and legs so we can lift a box. Mitochondria are small structures in the cells that make ATP from the food we eat.

A clinical-stage leader in immune-stimulatory vaccines for cancer announced the publication of its favorable long-term Overall Survival (OS) data from a Phase I trial evaluating a universal cancer vaccine candidate, UV1, in combination with checkpoint inhibitor ipilimumab, in patients with metastatic malignant melanoma.

UV1 is a peptide-based vaccine inducing a specific T cell response against the universal cancer antigen telomerase.

Published in the Frontiers in Immunology journal on May 11, 2021, Norway-based Ultimovacs ASA’s UV1 vaccine candidate achieved the primary endpoints of safety and tolerability.

Scientists at UC San Francisco are learning how immune cells naturally clear the body of defunct—or senescent—cells that contribute to aging and many chronic diseases. Understanding this process may open new ways of treating age-related chronic diseases with immunotherapy.

In a healthy state, these immune cells —known as invariant Natural Killer T (iNKT) cells—function as a surveillance system, eliminating cells the body senses as foreign, including senescent cells, which have irreparable DNA damage. But the iNKT cells become less active with age and other factors like obesity that contribute to chronic disease.

Finding ways to stimulate this natural surveillance system offers an alternative to senolytic therapies, which to date have been the primary approach to removing senescent cells. It could be a boon to a field that has struggled with how to systemically administer these senolytics without serious side effects.

We’ve updated our list of top longevity conferences and events for 2021, adding 4 new ones and removing 3 that are no longer happening:

Update 5/10/2021: This post has been updated since we originally published it in August 2020. Several new longevity conferences have been added and several which are no longer happening have been removed.

Affiliate Disclaimer: Longevity Advice is reader-supported. When you buy something using links on our site, we may earn a few bucks.

Usually, when you approach a random stranger and immediately begin talking about things like DNA methylation rates and NAD+ precursors, you’re lucky if all you get is a weird look.