Effect of erythropoietin administration on proteins participating in iron homeostasis in Tmprss6-mutated mask mice.

Tmprss6-mutated mask mice display iron deficiency anemia and high expression of hepcidin. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of erythropoietin administration on proteins participating in the control of iron homeostasis in the liver and spleen in C57BL/6 and mask mice. Administration of erythropoietin for four days at 50 IU/mouse/day increased hemoglobin and hematocrit in C57BL/6 mice, no such increase was seen in mask mice.

Erythropoietin administration increases splenic erythroferrone protein content and liver TMPRSS6 protein content in rats.

Erythroferrone (ERFE) and TMPRSS6 are important proteins in the regulation of iron metabolism. The objective of the study was to examine splenic ERFE and liver TMPRSS6 synthesis in rats treated with a combination of iron and erythropoietin (EPO). EPO was administered to female Wistar rats at 600U/day for four days, iron-pretreated rats received 150mg of iron before EPO treatment.

Horizontal transfer of whole mitochondria restores tumorigenic potential in mitochondrial DNA-deficient cancer cells.

Recently, we showed that generation of tumours in syngeneic mice by cells devoid of mitochondrial (mt) DNA (ρ cells) is linked to the acquisition of the host mtDNA. However, the mechanism of mtDNA movement between cells remains unresolved. To determine whether the transfer of mtDNA involves whole mitochondria, we injected B16ρ mouse melanoma cells into syngeneic C57BL/6N mice that express red fluorescent protein in their mitochondria.

Tumor-initiating cells of breast and prostate origin show alterations in the expression of genes related to iron metabolism.

The importance of iron in the growth and progression of tumors has been widely documented. In this report, we show that tumor-initiating cells (TICs), represented by spheres derived from the MCF7 cell line, exhibit higher intracellular labile iron pool, mitochondrial iron accumulation and are more susceptible to iron chelation. TICs also show activation of the IRP/IRE system, leading to higher iron uptake and decrease in iron storage, suggesting that level of properly assembled cytosolic iron-sulfur clusters (FeS) is reduced.

Mitochondrially targeted vitamin E succinate modulates expression of mitochondrial DNA transcripts and mitochondrial biogenesis.

Aims: To assess the effect of mitochondrially targeted vitamin E (VE) analogs on mitochondrial function and biogenesis.

Results: Mitochondrially targeted vitamin E succinate (MitoVES) is an efficient inducer of apoptosis in cancer cells. Here, we show that unlike its untargeted counterpart α-tocopheryl succinate, MitoVES suppresses proliferation of cancer cells at sub-apoptotic doses by way of affecting the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) transcripts.

N-substituted 2-isonicotinoylhydrazinecarboxamides--new antimycobacterial active molecules.

This report presents a new modification of the isoniazid (INH) structure linked with different anilines via a carbonyl group obtained by two synthetic procedures and with N-substituted 5-(pyridine-4-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-amines prepared by their cyclisation. All synthesised derivatives were characterised by IR, NMR, MS and elemental analyses and were evaluated in vitro for their antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, Mycobacterium avium 330/88, Mycobacterium kansasii 235/80 and one clinical isolated strain of M. kansasii 6509/96.