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Updated: Jul 16, 2026

MitoCeption: Transferring Isolated Human MSC Mitochondria to Glioblastoma Stem Cells
Published on: February 22, 2017
Direct interorganellar transfer of iron from endosome to mitochondrion
Alex D Sheftel1, An-Sheng Zhang, Claire Brown
1Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital and Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Abstract:
Iron is a transition metal whose physicochemical properties make it the focus of vital biologic processes in virtually all living organisms. Among numerous roles, iron is essential for oxygen transport, cellular respiration, and DNA synthesis. Paradoxically, the same characteristics that biochemistry exploits make iron a potentially lethal substance. In the presence of oxygen, ferrous iron (Fe(2+)) will catalyze the production of toxic hydroxyl radicals from hydrogen peroxide. In addition, Fe(3+) is virtually insoluble at physiologic pH. To protect tissues from deleterious effects of Fe, mammalian physiology has evolved specialized mechanisms for extracellular, intercellular, and intracellular iron handling. Here we show that developing erythroid cells, which are taking up vast amounts of Fe, deliver the metal directly from transferrin-containing endosomes to mitochondria (the site of heme biosynthesis), bypassing the oxygen-rich cytosol. Besides describing a new means of intracellular transport, our finding is important for developing therapies for patients with iron loading disorders.
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