ArticleThe Journal of biological chemistry2016
Mitochondrial Translocator Protein (TSPO) Function Is Not Essential for Heme Biosynthesis.
Article in The Journal of biological chemistry, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ice-free vitrification of embryos and its impact on post-warming outcomes.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Functional role of translocator protein and its ligands in ocular diseases (Review).Molecular medicine reports · 2024Review
- New TSPO Crystal Structures of Mutant and Heme-Bound Forms with Altered Flexibility, Ligand Binding, and Porphyrin Degradation Activity.Biochemistry · 2023Article
- Translocator protein in the rise and fall of central nervous system neurons.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2023Review
- Exogenous cholesterol acquisition signaling in LH-responsive MA-10 Leydig cells and in adult mice.The Journal of endocrinology · 2022Article
- Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors and Microglia as Therapeutic and Imaging Targets in Alzheimer's Disease.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Mitochondrial translocator protein deficiency exacerbates pathology in acute experimental ulcerative colitis.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Cellular sources of TSPO expression in healthy and diseased brain.European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2021Review
- TSPO protein binding partners in bacteria, animals, and plants.Journal of bioenergetics and biomembranes · 2021Review
- Article
- Mitochondrial TSPO Deficiency Triggers Retrograde Signaling in MA-10 Mouse Tumor Leydig Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Article
- A Novel Interaction of Translocator Protein 18 kDa (TSPO) with NADPH Oxidase in Microglia.Molecular neurobiology · 2020Article
- Review
- Lack of adrenal TSPO/PBR expression in hamsters reinforces correlation to triglyceride metabolism.The Journal of endocrinology · 2020Article
- Impact of Cholesterol on the Stability of Monomeric and Dimeric Forms of the Translocator Protein TSPO: A Molecular Simulation Study.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Decreased Mitochondrial Dynamics Is Associated with Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Rate, and Fitness in African Americans.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2020Article
- Article
- Translocator protein (TSPO): the new story of the old protein in neuroinflammation.BMB reports · 2020Review
- Characterization of the 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO) expression in post-mortem normal and Alzheimer's disease brains.Brain pathology (Zurich, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- CRISPR-Cas9 Mediated TSPO Gene Knockout alters Respiration and Cellular Metabolism in Human Primary Microglia Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Function of the mammalian translocator protein (TSPO; previously known as the peripheral benzodiazepine receptor) remains unclear because its presumed role in steroidogenesis and mitochondrial permeability transition established using pharmacological methods has been refuted in recent genetic studies. Protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) is considered a conserved endogenous ligand for TSPO. In bacteria, TSPO was identified to regulate tetrapyrrole metabolism and chemical catalysis of PPIX in the presence of light, and in vertebrates, TSPO function has been linked to porphyrin transport and heme biosynthesis. Positive correlation between high TSPO expression in cancer cells and susceptibility to photodynamic therapy based on their increased ability to convert the precursor 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) to PPIX appeared to reinforce this mechanism. In this study, we used TSPO knock-out (Tspo(-/-)) mice, primary cells, and different tumor cell lines to examine the role of TSPO in erythropoiesis, heme levels, PPIX biosynthesis, phototoxic cell death, and mitochondrial bioenergetic homeostasis. In contrast to expectations, our results demonstrate that TSPO deficiency does not adversely affect erythropoiesis, heme biosynthesis, bioconversion of ALA to PPIX, and porphyrin-mediated phototoxic cell death. TSPO expression levels in cancer cells do not correlate with their ability to convert ALA to PPIX. In fibroblasts, we observed that TSPO deficiency decreased the oxygen consumption rate and mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) indicative of a cellular metabolic shift, without a negative impact on porphyrin biosynthetic capability. Based on these findings, we conclude that mammalian TSPO does not have a critical physiological function related to PPIX and heme biosynthesis.
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