Ubiquinone Analogs: A Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore-Dependent Pathway to Selective Cell Death

Prolonged opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (PTP) leads to cell death. Various ubiquinone analogs have been shown to regulate PTP opening but the outcome of PTP regulation by ubiquinone analogs on cell fate has not been studied yet. induced a PTP-dependent cell death in MH1C1 cells, but was also slightly cytotoxic in Clone-9 by an oxidative stress-dependent mechanism.We found that various ubiquinone analogs regulate PTP in different ways depending on the cell studied. We took advantage of this unique property to develop a PTP opening-targeted strategy that leads to cell death specifically in cells where the ubiquinone analog used induces PTP opening, while sparing the cells in which it does not induce PTP opening