Due to their relative safety and simplicity, lipid-based nanoparticles have been widely used in systemic delivery nanocarriers. The liposome carrier can transport water-soluble drugs in its core or fat-soluble compounds in its outer membrane layer. Compared with chemically-modified drugs, this delivery method encapsulates active molecules without altering their molecular structure, thereby maintaining the pharmacy dynamic characteristics of the drug. This type of delivery system protects the loaded drug from biodegradation or chemical degradation in the blood, and releases drugs at the target site in a suitable manner [
125]. In current clinical trials with mice and humans, liposome drug delivery systems have been used for targeted delivery of a variety of anticancer drugs, including biomacromolecules and hydrophobic drugs [
62,
125-
147]. Some liposomes, such as liposomal adriamycin and liposomal paclitaxel have been approved by FDA and are widely used in the treatment of metastatic ovarian cancer, breast cancer. This delivery system also significantly reduces toxicity of the drugs in the patient's heart [
125,
127-
139]. To prevent the enrichment of liposomal nanoparticles in the organism, which makes their degradation difficult, their surface generally modified with a little hydrophilic group to improve their biocompatibility. Chemical modifications on liposome can enable their effective entry into mitochondria. For example, Harashima's team described a liposome carrier that delivered a macromolecular cargo to the interior of the mitochondria
via membrane fusion [
137]. As shown in
Fig. 2, these liposomes, called MITO-Porters, were modified with octaarginine (R8) moieties on their surfaces as a complete vesicle MITO-Porter. Amino acid polymers and synthetic arginine peptide analogues have been reported to be as the translocation domains to improve cargo delivery efficiency [
140-
142]. As shown in
Fig. 2A, MITO-Porter entered the cell through endocytosis, was degraded by lysosomes, and banded to mitochondria through electrostatic interaction. The results showed that nanocarriers containing R8 have better fusion efficiency than those without R8, indicating that the strong electrostatic binding between R8-based liposomes and mitochondria stimulates. The delivery model of this experiment was green fluorescent protein, and western blot showed that it had a good delivery effect. This provides guidance for the mitochondria targeted drug delivery of biomacromolecules. The MITO-Porters can be employed to transport functional nucleic acids, proteins, and small biologically active molecules. Such delivery systems are very promising as they can transport molecules with different physicochemical characteristics as well as large or small encapsulated molecules. Cationic liposomes are considered to be another promising nanocarriers for improving mitochondrial delivery. For example, Taillandier's team used trimethyl aminoethane carbamoyl cholesterol iodide (TMAEC-Chol) and dioleoyl phosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) to create a liposome with clear size and stability [
143]. In order to further transfer the oligonucleotide into the mitochondrial matrix, the oligonucleotide was linked to the ornithine transcarbamylase signal peptide, which is recognized by the mitochondrial protein import mechanism and then enters the mitochondria. Therefore, suitable cationic liposomes and peptide oligonucleotide conjugates can be used in mitochondrial gene therapy experiments, which lays a foundation for the treatment of mtDNA abnormal diseases [
144,
145]. Deng's group postulated that mitochondrial targeting and stimuli-triggered liposome delivery system could be employed to derive new therapies for deep tumor treatment [
135]. Liposomes were connected to TPP with verteporfin and gold nanoparticles being encapsulated inside the liposomes. Low-dose X-rays can trigger verteporfin to produce cytotoxic ROS. In this process, porphyrin transferred the absorbed energy to oxygen to form a highly active single oxygen with a short-term maintenance time. Single oxygen destroyed various biological structures within its diffusion range. This process leaded to local vascular atresia, cell destruction, and cell death under certain circumstances. Co-encapsulation of gold nanoparticles (10 nm) in the central core of liposomes can increase the production of ROS for deep tumor treatment.