How Do Human Cells React to the Absence of Mitochondrial DNA?

Mitochondrial biogenesis is under the control of two different genetic systems: the nuclear genome (nDNA) and the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). The mtDNA is a circular genome of 16.6 kb encoding 13 of the approximately 90 subunits that form the respiratory chain, the remaining ones being encoded by the nDNA. Eukaryotic cells are able to monitor and respond to changes in mitochondrial function through alterations in nuclear gene expression, a phenomenon first defined in yeast and known as retrograde regulation. To investigate how the cellular transcriptome is modified in response to the absence of mtDNA, we used Affymetrix HG-U133A GeneChip arrays to study the gene expression profile of two human cell lines, 143BTK(-) and A549, which had been entirely depleted of mtDNA (rho(o) cells), and compared it with that of corresponding undepleted parental cells (rho(+) cells).Our data indicate that absence of mtDNA is associated with: i) a down-regulation of cell cycle control genes and a reduction of cell replication rate, ii) a down-regulation of nuclear-encoded subunits of complex III of the respiratory chain and iii) a down-regulation of a gene described as the human homolog of ELAC2 of E. coli, which encodes a protein that we show to also target to the mitochondrial compartment.Our results indicate a strong correlation between mitochondrial biogenesis and cell cycle control and suggest that some proteins could have a double role: for instance in controlling both cell cycle progression and mitochondrial functions. In addition, the finding that ELAC2 and maybe other transcripts that are located into mitochondria, are down-regulated in rho(o) cells, make them good candidates for human disorders associated with defective replication and expression of mtDNA

Short-term salivary acetaldehyde increase due to direct exposure to alcoholic beverages as an additional cancer risk factor beyond ethanol metabolism

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>An increasing body of evidence now implicates acetaldehyde as a major underlying factor for the carcinogenicity of alcoholic beverages and especially for oesophageal and oral cancer. Acetaldehyde associated with alcohol consumption is regarded as 'carcinogenic to humans' (IARC Group 1), with sufficient evidence available for the oesophagus, head and neck as sites of carcinogenicity. At present, research into the mechanistic aspects of acetaldehyde-related oral cancer has been focused on salivary acetaldehyde that is formed either from ethanol metabolism in the epithelia or from microbial oxidation of ethanol by the oral microflora. This study was conducted to evaluate the role of the acetaldehyde that is found as a component of alcoholic beverages as an additional factor in the aetiology of oral cancer.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Salivary acetaldehyde levels were determined in the context of sensory analysis of different alcoholic beverages (beer, cider, wine, sherry, vodka, calvados, grape marc spirit, tequila, cherry spirit), without swallowing, to exclude systemic ethanol metabolism.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The rinsing of the mouth for 30 seconds with an alcoholic beverage is able to increase salivary acetaldehyde above levels previously judged to be carcinogenic in vitro, with levels up to 1000 μM in cases of beverages with extreme acetaldehyde content. In general, the highest salivary acetaldehyde concentration was found in all cases in the saliva 30 sec after using the beverages (average 353 μM). The average concentration then decreased at the 2-min (156 μM), 5-min (76 μM) and 10-min (40 μM) sampling points. The salivary acetaldehyde concentration depends primarily on the direct ingestion of acetaldehyde contained in the beverages at the 30-sec sampling, while the influence of the metabolic formation from ethanol becomes the major factor at the 2-min sampling point.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study offers a plausible mechanism to explain the increased risk for oral cancer associated with high acetaldehyde concentrations in certain beverages.</p

Candidiasis, Bacterial Vaginosis, Trichomoniasis and Other Vaginal Conditions Affecting the Vulva

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases

The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs) can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e. iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference

Assignment of the locus for a new lethal neonatal metabolic syndrome to 2q33-37.

A new neonatal syndrome characterized by intrauterine growth retardation, lactic acidosis, aminoaciduria, liver hemosiderosis, and early death was recently described. The pathogenesis of this disease is unknown. The mode of inheritance is autosomal recessive, and so far only 17 cases have been reported in 12 Finnish families. Here we report the assignment of the locus for this new disease to a restricted region on chromosome 2q33-37. We mapped the disease locus in a family material insufficient for traditional linkage analysis by using linkage disequilibrium, a possibility available in genetic isolates such as Finland. The primary screening of the genome was performed with samples from nine affected individuals in five families. In the next step, conventional linkage analysis was performed in eight families, with a total of 12 affected infants, and finally the locus assignment was proved by demonstrating linkage disequilibrium to the regional markers in 20 disease chromosomes. Linkage analysis restricted the disease locus to a 3-cM region between markers D2S164 and D2S2359, and linkage disequilibrium with the ancestral haplotype restricted the disease locus further to the immediate vicinity of marker D2S2250