Coenzyme Q10 and Intracellular Signalling Pathways: Clinical Relevance

Intracellular signalling pathways provide a mechanism to connect events at a cell surface to the nucleus and are of fundamental importance to normal cell functioning. Intracellular signalling pathways control many aspects of cell metabolism, including mitochondrial function, oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis/ferroptosis. Randomised controlled clinical trials supplementing coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) have reported significant clinical improvements in a number of disorders, in turn associated with the action of CoQ10 to promote normal mitochondrial function, reduce oxidative stress and inflammation, and mediate apoptosis and ferroptosis. However, the precise mechanisms by which CoQ10 facilitates beneficial changes in the above factors is not completely understood. In the present article, the evidence we have reviewed provides a supporting rationale that the beneficial role of CoQ10 in the above disorders occurs via mediation of major intracellular signalling pathways, including the Nrf2/NQO1, NF-κB, P13/AKT/mTOR, MAPK, JAK/STAT, WNT/B-catenin, AMPK-YAP-OPA1, and hedgehog (Hh) pathways; the clinical consequences of such mediation are also reviewed.