Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42769092›Full record

ReviewFrontiers in cell and developmental biology2026

Lipid droplet-mitochondria contact sites as druggable spatial-pharmacology targets in respiratory disease: cross-cell-type mechanisms and translational strategies.

Shuting Li, Rongrong Bai

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Frontiers in cell and developmental biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Shuting LiThe Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Jiangsu Second Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Rongrong BaiThe Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Jiangsu Second Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Lipid droplets and mitochondria form regulated contact sites whose molecular composition, phosphorylation state and spatial geometry now behave as measurable, druggable variables in living cells. The molecular toolkit has been mapped in liver, muscle and adipose tissue, yet its application to respiratory disease has lagged despite a lung-specific dependence on lipid biology that spans surfactant biogenesis, alveolar-macrophage lipid handling and fibroblast-driven remodelling. This review argues that the lipid-droplet-mitochondria contact site is an emerging spatial-pharmacology target in respiratory medicine, and organises the evidence into a three-way matrix with explicit grading of direct, indirect and cross-tissue evidence. A common molecular toolkit built around perilipin-family scaffolds, mitochondrial-outer-membrane tethers, an endoplasmic-reticulum bridging apparatus and the PFKL-PLIN2-CPT1A flux node (mechanistically established in hepatocellular carcinoma and inferred in lung) is rewired into cell-type-specific configurations across alveolar type 2 cells, macrophages, fibroblasts, endothelium and lung adenocarcinoma. That toolkit acquires a distinct disease role across idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, acute respiratory distress syndrome, tuberculosis, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus two infection and lung cancer, generating a matrix of cell-type-by-disease configurations that no prior review has systematized. Four target axes, namely, tether occupancy, lipid flux, redox coupling and cell-type-precise delivery, converge geometrically at the interface and motivate combination strategies rather than pan-mitochondrial single-agent approaches. Inhaled lipid nanoparticles, mucus-penetrating carriers and engineered extracellular vesicles bring these targets within reach with cell-type precision. Endothelial contact-site biology is identified as the largest evidence gap and discussed candidly. The framework is offered as a roadmap for tether-axis compound development, contact-site engagement biomarkers and dual-axis inhaled therapeutics.

Indexed as

chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseidiopathic pulmonary fibrosisinhaled lipid nanoparticleslipid droplet–mitochondria contact siteslung adenocarcinomaperidroplet mitochondriaPFKL–PLIN2–CPT1APLIN5

Identifiers

PMID42769092
PMCPMC13590267

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.