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Updated: Jul 20, 2025

Author Spotlight: Unveiling Mitochondrial Function and Cellular Metabolic Adaptation in Metabolic Diseases
Published on: October 4, 2024
Inter-tissue communication of mitochondrial stress and metabolic health
Hanlin Zhang1, Xinyu Li2,3, Wudi Fan1
1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Abstract:
Mitochondria function as a hub of the cellular metabolic network. Mitochondrial stress is closely associated with aging and a variety of diseases, including neurodegeneration and cancer. Cells autonomously elicit specific stress responses to cope with mitochondrial stress to maintain mitochondrial homeostasis. Interestingly, mitochondrial stress responses may also be induced in a non-autonomous manner in cells or tissues that are not directly experiencing such stress. Such non-autonomous mitochondrial stress responses are mediated by secreted molecules called mitokines. Due to their significant translational potential in improving human metabolic health, there has been a surge in mitokine-focused research. In this review, we summarize the findings regarding inter-tissue communication of mitochondrial stress in animal models. In addition, we discuss the possibility of mitokine-mediated intercellular mitochondrial communication originating from bacterial quorum sensing.
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