ArticleCell reports2015
Tetracyclines Disturb Mitochondrial Function across Eukaryotic Models: A Call for Caution in Biomedical Research.
Article in Cell reports, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 290 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
290 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 485 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Ionomycin suppresses cancer cell growth by disrupting mitochondrial transcription.FEBS open bio · 2026Article
- Antibiotic-Induced Genotoxicity: Molecular Mechanisms, Cytogenetic Damage, and Implications for Human Health.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Biogenic Amines as Biomarkers for the Assessment of Diesel-Contaminated Water Toxicity.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation improves skeletal muscle mitochondrial function in a model of Barth syndrome.JCI insight · 2026Article
- Off-target anti-leukemic effects of antibiotics: mechanisms and therapeutic insights.Cancer chemotherapy and pharmacology · 2026Review
- A Comparative Multi-Bioassay Assessment of Tetracycline Mixture Toxicity in Water and Soil Using Harmonized Dose-Response Modeling.Journal of xenobiotics · 2026Article
- A Novel Potent and Selective GCN2 Inhibitor, APL-4098, Has Antileukemic Activity through Dysregulation of Mitochondrial Function.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2026Article
- Rapid Genomic Adaptation of Drosophila Melanogaster to Wolbachia Elimination.Microbial ecology · 2026Article
- Targeting organelle function in T cells for cancer immunotherapy.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2026Review
- IPTG- and estradiol-inducible gene expression systems in the unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae.Plant physiology · 2026Article
- Multi-dimensional dynamic assessment revealed the antibiotic-induced pseudo-germ-free model in SD rats stabilized within 4 days.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Overcoming resistance in lung cancer: combined mitochondrial destabilization by lipophilic cations and doxycycline in hypoxic non-small cell lung carcinoma.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Article
- Omadacycline - Associated Anticardiolipin Antibody Positivity and Hypercoagulable State: A Case Report and Review of Tetracycline - Induced Immune Dysregulation.Infection and drug resistance · 2026Article
- Mitochondrial unfolded protein response as a central stress-integration hub: mechanisms and implications in disease contexts.Burns & trauma · 2026Review
230 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
In recent years, tetracyclines, such as doxycycline, have become broadly used to control gene expression by virtue of the Tet-on/Tet-off systems. However, the wide range of direct effects of tetracycline use has not been fully appreciated. We show here that these antibiotics induce a mitonuclear protein imbalance through their effects on mitochondrial translation, an effect that likely reflects the evolutionary relationship between mitochondria and proteobacteria. Even at low concentrations, tetracyclines induce mitochondrial proteotoxic stress, leading to changes in nuclear gene expression and altered mitochondrial dynamics and function in commonly used cell types, as well as worms, flies, mice, and plants. Given that tetracyclines are so widely applied in research, scientists should be aware of their potentially confounding effects on experimental results. Furthermore, these results caution against extensive use of tetracyclines in livestock due to potential downstream impacts on the environment and human health.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.