The fuss over lipo“fussâ€cin: not all autofluorescence is the same

Submitted: 25 February 2015
Accepted: 6 March 2015
Published: 12 March 2015
Abstract Views: 1658
PDF: 767
HTML: 1312
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

Since the first description of cellular autofluorescence over a century ago, we have now come to appreciate that autofluorescence should not be discarded as a biological artifact but embraced as a biological phenomenon with potentially important cellular relevance. Indeed, cellular and tissue autofluorescence has been attributed to a spectrum of unrelated molecules such as porphyrins, vitamins (vitamin A, riboflavin, thiamine), structural proteins, lipofuscin and ceroid pigments. We have recently shown that freshly isolated epithelial cancer stem cells (CSCs) bear autofluorescent vesicles in the cytoplasm. Our studies definitively prove that riboflavin and not lipofuscin is the source of autofluorescence in CSCs as the inhibition of ATP and not autophagy eliminates CSC autofluorescence, that the ATP-dependent transporter ABCG2, for which riboflavin is a substrate, is overexpressed in autofluorescent CSCs and co-localizes with the membrane of intracellular autofluorescent vesicles, the ABCG2-specific inhibitor Fumitremorgin C reversibly eliminates CSC autofluorescence, riboflavin is a substrate for ABCG2, and only the addition of riboflavin to vitamin-deprived CSC cultures is capable of restoring autofluorescence. Thus, the sum of these data unequivocally supports the conclusion that the source of CSC autofluorescence is the vitamin riboflavin.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Supporting Agencies

European Research Council
B. Sainz Jr., Autónoma University of Madrid
Department of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Microbiology, School of Medicine

I. Miranda-Lorenzo, Autónoma University of Madrid, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO)

Stem Cells & Cancer Group

C. Heeschen, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London

Professor for Stem Cell & Cancer Biology
Lead, Centre for Stem Cells in Cancer & Ageing
Barts Cancer Institute - a Cancer Research UK Centre of Excellence

How to Cite

Sainz Jr., B., Miranda-Lorenzo, I., & Heeschen, C. (2015). The fuss over lipo“fuss”cin: not all autofluorescence is the same. European Journal of Histochemistry, 59(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/ejh.2015.2512

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

Publication Facts

Metric
This article
Other articles
Peer reviewers 
1
2.4

Reviewer profiles  N/A

Author statements

Author statements
This article
Other articles
Data availability 
N/A
16%
External funding 
N/A
32%
Competing interests 
Yes
11%
Metric
This journal
Other journals
Articles accepted 
57%
33%
Days to publication 
14
145

Indexed in

Editor & editorial board
profiles
Academic society 
N/A