5.5. New mitophagy targets, new therapeutic agents
As discussed in section 4, melatonin modulates various signaling pathways to turn on mitophagy. For instance, melatonin modulates HSPA1L-PRNP-COX4I1, CGAS-STING1-TBK1, HSPA1L-PRKN, HSPA1L-PRNP-COX4I1, and NR4A1-PRKDC-TP53 pathways, leading to mitophagy activation and regulation in healthy mammalian cells. Thus, molecular components of these pathways are new targets for mitophagy regulation. Given that therapeutic modulation of these pathways has largely remained unexplored, new drug-developing approaches should be geared towards novel pharmaceutical or natural agents for specific targeting of these pathways.