Conventional therapeutic modalities against the cancers such as surgery, chemotherapy
(CT) and radiotherapy (RT) have limited efficacy due to drug resistance, and adverse effects. Recent
developments in nanoscience emphasized novel approaches to overcome the aforementioned
limitations and subsequently improve overall clinical outcomes in cancer patients. Photodynamic
therapy (PDT), photothermal therapy (PTT), and radiodynamic therapy (RDT) can be used as cancer
treatments due to their high selectivity, low drug resistance, and low toxicity. Mitocans are the
therapeutic molecules that can produce anti-cancer effects by modulating mitochondria functions
and they have significant implications in cancer therapy. Mitochondria- targeted therapy is a
promising strategy in cancer treatment as these organelles play a crucial function in the regulation
of apoptosis and metabolism in tumor cells and are more vulnerable to hyperthermia and oxidative
damage. The aim of this review is used to explore the targeting efficacy of mitocans in the
nanotherapeutic formulation when combined with therapies like PDT, PTT, RDT. We searched
several databases include Pubmed, relemed, scopus, google scholar, Embase and collected the related
information to the efficacy of mitocans in nanotherapeutics when combined with photo-radiotherapy
to target chemo/radio-resisant tumor cells. In this review, we vividly described research reports
pertinent to the selective delivery of chemotherapy molecules into specific sub-organelles
which can significantly improve the efficiency of cancer treatment by targeting tumor cell
metabolism. Furthermore, the rational design, functionalization and application of various mitochondrial
targeting units, including organic phosphine/sulfur salts, quaternary ammonium salts,
transition metal complexes, and mitochondria-targeted cancer therapy such as PDT, PTT, RDT,
and others were summarized. Mainly, the efficacy of these modalities against mtDNA and additional
nanotherapeutic strategies with photosensitizers, or radiotherapy to target mitochondrial
metabolism in tumor cells with chemo/radio-resistance were delineated. This review can benefit
nanotechnologists, oncologists, and radiation oncologists to develop rational designs and application
of novel mitochondrial targeting drugs mainly to target metabolism in chemo/radio-resistant
cancer cells in cancer therapy.