Mitochondrial permeability transition: a molecular lesion with multiple drug targets Authors Thomas Briston1*, David Selwood2, Gyorgy Szabadkai3,4,5, Michael R Duchen3 1 Neurology Innovation Centre, Hatfield Research Laboratories, Eisai Ltd., Hatfield, UK 2 Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, Division of Medicine, University College London, London, UK 3 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Consortium for Mitochondrial Research, University College London, London, UK 4 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padua, Padua, Italy 5 The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK * Correspondence:
[email protected] (Thomas Briston) Key words: mitochondria, mPTP, cyclophilin D, drug discovery, calcium Abstract Mitochondrial permeability transition, as the consequence of opening of a mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP), is a cellular catastrophe. Initiating bioenergetic collapse and cell death, it has been implicated in the pathophysiology of major human diseases, including neuromuscular diseases of childhood, ischaemia-reperfusion injury and age related neurodegenerative disease. mPTP represents a major therapeutic target, as opening can be prevented by a number of compounds. However, clinical studies have so far been disappointing. We therefore address the prospects and challenges faced in translating in vitro findings to clinical benefit. We review the role of mPTP opening in disease, discuss recent findings defining the putative structure of mPTP and explore strategies to identify 1 novel, clinically