ReviewCancer research2015
Tetracycline antibiotics impair mitochondrial function and its experimental use confounds research.
Review in Cancer research, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 81 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
81 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 140 citations in OpenAlex.
- Promising Drug Repurposing Candidates Targeting Free-Living Amoebae: A Systematic and Critical Review of Laboratory-Based Evidence.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Pooled it
- Blocking human fear memory with the matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor doxycycline.Molecular psychiatry · 2018Trial
- Ewing Sarcoma-Specific (Re)Expression Models.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2027Article
- Metab8D: a metabolic regulome network from multiomics and machine learning.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Atypical Tetracyclines Promote Longevity and Ferroptotic Neuroprotection via Translation Attenuation.Aging cell · 2026Article
- Recapitulation of plaque formation, tau pathology, and neurodegeneration in a human 3D matrix model of Alzheimer's disease.Cell reports methods · 2026Article
- Experimental Models to Study Polyglutamine Spinocerebellar Ataxias: From Mechanisms to Therapeutic Developments.Cerebellum (London, England) · 2026Review
- Selection, counterselection, and conditional gene expression for genetic biocontrol of insects.Insect science · 2026Review
- MEK Inhibition Reduces Vascular Malformations and Gene Dysregulation in NRASPediatric blood & cancer · 2026Article
- Targeting organelle function in T cells for cancer immunotherapy.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2026Review
- Distinct Osteogenic Profiles of Tetracyclines from Different Generations in an Ex Vivo Embryonic Chick Femur Model.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Overcoming chemoresistance in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: minocycline as a mitochondrial translation inhibitor.Discover oncology · 2026Article
- Atypical tetracyclines promote longevity and ferroptotic neuroprotection via translation attenuation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Mitochondrial unfolded protein response as a central stress-integration hub: mechanisms and implications in disease contexts.Burns & trauma · 2026Review
- Chemically-inducible CRISPR/Cas9 circuits for ultra-high dynamic range gene perturbation.Nature communications · 2025Article
- A portable poison exon for small-molecule control of mammalian gene expression.Nature methods · 2025Article
- Molecular mechanisms of 10-butyl ether minocycline, a novel nonantibiotic tetracycline, as a potential treatment for inflammatory and neuroimmune-related disorders.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2025Article
- Direct and transgenerational effects of tetracyclines on the microbiome, transcriptome, and male mating behavior of the sheep blowfly Lucilia cuprina.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Article
- Effect of Tigecycline on the Homeostasis of Human Epidermal Melanocytes and Fibroblasts.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Cross-comparison of strains used for mitochondrial imaging inLife science alliance · 2025Article
21 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
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Tetracyclines, a class of antibiotics that target bacterial translation, are commonly used in research for inducible gene expression using Tet-ON/Tet-OFF systems. However, such tetracycline-inducible systems carry a risk. Given that mitochondria have a "bacterial" ancestry, these antibiotics also target mitochondrial translation and impair mitochondrial function. Indeed, treatment with doxycycline-a tetracycline derivative-disturbs mitochondrial proteostasis and metabolic activity, and induces widespread gene-expression changes. Together, this affects physiology in well-established model systems ranging from cultured cells to simple organisms and to mice and plants. These changes are observed with doxycycline doses that are widely used to regulate gene expression. In light of these findings, and bearing in mind the conserved role of mitochondria in metabolism and whole organism homeostasis, we caution against the use of tetracyclines in experimental approaches. The use of newly developed tetracycline-based systems that are more sensitive could be an alternative; however, even if no overt mitochondrial toxicity is detected, widespread changes in gene expression may sensitize cells to the intended tetracycline-controlled loss or gain of function, thereby introducing a "two-hit model." This is highly relevant for cancer research, as mitochondrial metabolism holds a central position in the reallocation of nutrients for biomass production known as the Warburg effect.
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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.