Protein Information

Name cytochrome c
Synonyms CYC; CYCS; Cytochrome C; HCS; Cytochrome Cs

Compound Information

Name anthraquinone
CAS 9,10-anthracenedione

Reference List

PubMed Abstract RScore(About this table)
9658015 Seeliger S, Cord-Ruwisch R, Schink B: A periplasmic and extracellular c-type cytochrome of Geobacter sulfurreducens acts as a ferric iron reductase and as an electron carrier to other acceptors or to partner bacteria. J Bacteriol. 1998 Jul;180(14):3686-91.

The G. sulfurreducens cytochrome c reduced ferrihydrite (Fe (OH) 3), Fe (III) nitrilotriacetic acid, Fe (III) citrate, and manganese dioxide at high rates.
Elemental sulfur, anthraquinone disulfonate, and humic acids were reduced more slowly.
2(0,0,0,2) Details
1325904 Bechmann G, Weiss H, Rich PR: Non-linear inhibition curves for tight-binding inhibitors of dimeric ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductases. Eur J Biochem. 1992 Sep 1;208(2):315-25.

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11730720 Lee HZ, Hsu SL, Liu MC, Wu CH: Effects and mechanisms of aloe-emodin on cell death in human lung squamous cell carcinoma. Eur J Pharmacol. 2001 Nov 23;431(3):287-95.

Aloe-emodin (1,8-dihydroxy-3-(hydroxymethyl)-anthraquinone) is an active component from the root and rhizome of Rheum palmatum.
Aloe-emodin-treated CH27 cells had an increased relative abundance of cytochrome c in the cytosolic fraction.
1(0,0,0,1) Details
15037204 Perchellet EM, Wang Y, Weber RL, Sperfslage BJ, Lou K, Crossland J, Hua DH, Perchellet JP: Synthetic 1,4-anthracenedione analogs induce cytochrome c release, caspase-9, -3, and -8 activities, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 cleavage and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation in HL-60 cells by a mechanism which involves caspase-2 activation but not Fas signaling. Biochem Pharmacol. 2004 Feb 1;67(3):523-37.

Synthetic analogs of 1,4-anthraquinone (AQ code number), a compound that mimics the antiproliferative effects of daunorubicin (daunomycin) in the nanomolar range in vitro but has the advantage of blocking nucleoside transport and retaining its efficacy in multidrug-resistant tumor cells, were tested for their ability to induce apoptosis in the HL-60 cell system.
The release of mitochondrial cytochrome c (Cyt c) is also detected within 3-6hr in HL-60-S cells treated with AQ9, a finding consistent with the fact that Cyt c is the apoptotic trigger that activates caspase-9.
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2158909 di Rago JP, Perea J, Colson AM: Isolation and RNA sequence analysis of cytochrome b mutants resistant to funiculosin, a center i inhibitor of the mitochondrial ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. FEBS Lett. 1990 Apr 9;263(1):93-8.


Funiculosin is a well-known inhibitor of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, probably acting at the ubiquinone reducing site or center i of QH2-cytochrome c reductase.
1(0,0,0,1) Details
8125203 Jaskot RH, Costa DL: Toxicity of an anthraquinone violet dye mixture following inhalation exposure, intratracheal instillation, or gavage. Fundam Appl Toxicol. 1994 Jan;22(1):103-12.

The enzymes involved in xenobiotic metabolism (glutathione S-transferase, NADPH cytochrome-c reductase, and P450) were also elevated by the two component dyes, in contrast to their significant depression with VDM treatment.
1(0,0,0,1) Details
16987808 Ding MG, di Rago JP, Trumpower BL: Investigating the Qn site of the cytochrome bc1 complex in Saccharomyces cerevisiae with mutants resistant to ilicicolin H, a novel Qn site inhibitor. J Biol Chem. 2006 Nov 24;281(47):36036-43. Epub 2006 Sep 20.


The cytochrome bc1 complex resides in the inner membrane of mitochondria and transfers electrons from ubiquinol to cytochrome c.
1(0,0,0,1) Details
11822897 Wariishi H, Kabuto M, Mikuni J, Oyadomari M, Tanaka H: Degradation of water-insoluble dyes by microperoxidase-11, an effective and stable peroxidative catalyst in hydrophilic organic media. Biotechnol Prog. 2002 Jan-Feb;18(1):36-42.

Microperoxidase-11 (MP-11), a heme-containing undecapeptide, derived from horse heart cytochrome c was utilized as a peroxidative catalyst.
MP-11 showed effective decolorization activities against either azo or anthraquinone dyes.
1(0,0,0,1) Details
19744477 Lai JM, Chang JT, Wen CL, Hsu SL: Emodin induces a reactive oxygen species-dependent and ATM-p53-Bax mediated cytotoxicity in lung cancer cells. Eur J Pharmacol. 2009 Nov 25;623(1-3):1-9. Epub 2009 Sep 8.

Emodin (1,3,8-trihydroxy-6-methyl-anthraquinone), a natural anthraquinone compound isolated from the rhizome of rhubarb, has been reported to suppress tumor growth in many clinical situations.
Co-treating cells with either a p53 inhibitor or respectively knocking down the expression of p53 and Bax by shRNA extensively diminished emodin-induced cell viability, caspase 3 activation and the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria, indicating the crucial role for p53/Bax in emodin-mediated cytotoxicity.
1(0,0,0,1) Details
14522581 Lin S, Fujii M, Hou DX: Rhein induces apoptosis in HL-60 cells via reactive oxygen species-independent mitochondrial death pathway. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2003 Oct 15;418(2):99-107.

Rhein is an anthraquinone compound enriched in the rhizome of rhubarb, a traditional Chinese medicine herb showing anti-tumor promotion function.
Mechanistic analysis demonstrated that rhein induced the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsi (m)), cytochrome c release from mitochondrion to cytosol, and cleavage of Bid protein.
1(0,0,0,1) Details
1315503 Degli Esposti M, Ghelli A, Crimi M, Baracca A, Solaini G, Tron T, Meyer A: Cytochrome b of fish mitochondria is strongly resistant to funiculosin, a powerful inhibitor of respiration. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1992 May 15;295(1):198-204.


We report here some unusual properties of ubiquinol: cytochrome c reductase of eel and other fish mitochondria.
1(0,0,0,1) Details
15544921 Yang J, Li H, Chen YY, Wang XJ, Shi GY, Hu QS, Kang XL, Lu Y, Tang XM, Guo QS, Yi J: Anthraquinones sensitize tumor cells to arsenic cytotoxicity in vitro and in vivo via reactive oxygen species-mediated dual regulation of apoptosis. Free Radic Biol Med. 2004 Dec 15;37(12):2027-41.

Our previous studies showed that a naphthoquinone and an anthraquinone (emodin) displayed the capability of producing ROS and facilitating arsenic cytotoxicity in both leukemia and solid tumor cell lines.
The combination of emodin and arsenic promoted the major apoptotic signaling events, i.e., the collapse of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential, the release of cytochrome c, and the activation of caspases 9 and 3.
1(0,0,0,1) Details
17637488 Chen SH, Lin KY, Chang CC, Fang CL, Lin CP: Aloe-emodin-induced apoptosis in human gastric carcinoma cells. Food Chem Toxicol. 2007 Nov;45(11):2296-303. Epub 2007 Jun 12.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the anticancer effect of aloe-emodin, an anthraquinone compound present in the leaves of Aloe vera, on two distinct human gastric carcinoma cell lines, AGS and NCI-N87.
Aloe-emodin caused the release of apoptosis-inducing factor and cytochrome c from mitochondria, followed by the activation of caspase-3, leading to nuclear shrinkage and apoptosis.
1(0,0,0,1) Details
8218179 Howell N, Robertson DE: Electrochemical and spectral analysis of the long-range interactions between the Qo and Qi sites and the heme prosthetic groups in ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductase. Biochemistry. 1993 Oct 19;32(41):11162-72.

1(0,0,0,1) Details
18986809 Wang S, Wang Q, Wang Y, Liu L, Weng X, Li G, Zhang X, Zhou X: Novel anthraquinone derivatives: synthesis via click chemistry approach and their induction of apoptosis in BGC gastric cancer cells via reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent mitochondrial pathway. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2008 Dec 15;18(24):6505-8. Epub 2008 Oct 14.

Mechanistic analysis showed that these compounds induced the generation of several reactive oxygen species, the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (Delta psi m), the transition of mitochondrial permeability, and the release of cytochrome C from the mitochondrion to cytoplasm.
1(0,0,0,1) Details
19414420 Lai WW, Yang JS, Lai KC, Kuo CL, Hsu CK, Wang CK, Chang CY, Lin JJ, Tang NY, Chen PY, Huang WW, Chung JG: Rhein induced apoptosis through the endoplasmic reticulum stress, caspase- and mitochondria-dependent pathways in SCC-4 human tongue squamous cancer cells. In Vivo. 2009 Mar-Apr;23(2):309-16.

Rhein, an anthraquinone compound, can be found in the rhizome of rhubarb, a traditional Chinese medicine herb showing antitumor activity.
Mechanistic analysis demonstrated that rhein induced changes in the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 based on the decrease of Bcl-2 levels, the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, cytochrome c release from the mitochondria and the activation of caspase-9 and -3.
1(0,0,0,1) Details
18566240 Yan Y, Su X, Liang Y, Zhang J, Shi C, Lu Y, Gu L, Fu L: Emodin azide methyl anthraquinone derivative triggers mitochondrial-dependent cell apoptosis involving in caspase-8-mediated Bid cleavage. Mol Cancer Ther. 2008 Jun;7(6):1688-97.

It was noteworthy that AMAD also effectively cleaved Bid, a BH3 domain-containing proapoptotic Bcl-2 family member, and induced the subsequent release of cytochrome c from mitochondria into the cytosol.
1(0,0,0,1) Details
8663906 Tarasiuk J, Stefanska B, Borowski E: The direct reduction of cytochrome c by some anthraquinone antitumor compounds. Anticancer Drug Des. 1996 Apr;11(3):183-92.
165(2,2,2,5) Details
6251919 Davydov RM, Stepanov SV: [Reaction capacity of the nonequilibrium form of cytochrome c formed during reduction of the protein by radicals]. Biofizika. 1980 Jul-Aug;25(4):624-6.

It has been shown that during fast (< 1 ms) photosensitized by anthraquinone or benzophenone reduction of cytochrome c in 0.15 N NaOH water-glycerol solutions ferrocytochrome c in a nonequilibrium state with increased reactivity was formed.
83(1,1,1,3) Details
16162972 Wang Y, Perchellet EM, Ward MM, Lou K, Hua DH, Perchellet JP: Rapid collapse of mitochondrial transmembrane potential in HL-60 cells and isolated mitochondria treated with anti-tumor 1,4-anthracenediones. Anticancer Drugs. 2005 Oct;16(9):953-67.

Since synthetic analogs of 1,4-anthraquinone (AQ code number), such as AQ8, AQ9 and AQ10, can trigger cytochrome c release without caspase activation and retain their ability to induce apoptosis in multidrug-resistant (MDR) tumor cells, fluorescent probes of transmembrane potential have been used to determine whether these anti-tumor compounds might directly target mitochondria in cell and cell-free systems to cause the collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential (/Deltapsim) that is linked to permeability transition pore (PTP) opening.
31(0,1,1,1) Details
17912452 Perchellet EM, Wang Y, Lou K, Zhao H, Battina SK, Hua DH, Perchellet JP: Novel substituted 1,4-anthracenediones with antitumor activity directly induce permeability transition in isolated mitochondria. Int J Oncol. 2007 Nov;31(5):1231-41.

Synthetic analogs of 1,4-anthraquinone (AQ code number), which block nucleoside transport, decrease DNA, RNA and protein syntheses, trigger cytochrome c release without caspase activation, induce apoptotic DNA fragmentation and inhibit the proliferation of wild-type and multidrug resistant tumor cells in the nM range in vitro, rapidly cause the collapse of mitochondrial transmembrane potential in cell and cell-free systems.
31(0,1,1,1) Details
2546562 Tarasiuk J, Garnier-Suillerot A, Borowski E: Lack of competition between cytochrome c and anthraquinone type drugs for the reductive sites of NADH dehydrogenase. Biochem Pharmacol. 1989 Jul 15;38(14):2285-9.
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2989259 Tripathy BC, Rieske JS: Antimycin-resistant alternate electron pathway to plastocyanin in bovine-heart complex III. J Bioenerg Biomembr. 1985 Jun;17(3):141-50.


Cytochrome c reduction as catalyzed by Complex III displayed a residual, inhibitor-insensitive rate of 5% of the uninhibited rate for each of the three inhibitors, antimycin, myxothiazol, and UHDBT.
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18563356 Huang Z, Chen G, Shi P: Emodin-induced apoptosis in human breast cancer BCap-37 cells through the mitochondrial signaling pathway. Arch Pharm Res. 2008 Jun;31(6):742-8. Epub 2008 Jun 19.

Emodin, a natural anthraquinone compound isolated from the rhizome of rhubarb, is reported to suppress the growth of tumor in many clinical situations.
The results of the study further showed that Bcl-2 level decreased, while Bax and cytosolic cytochrome c levels in sample cells increased after the emodin treatment by using Western blot.
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15941563 Su YT, Chang HL, Shyue SK, Hsu SL: Emodin induces apoptosis in human lung adenocarcinoma cells through a reactive oxygen species-dependent mitochondrial signaling pathway. Biochem Pharmacol. 2005 Jul 15;70(2):229-41.

Emodin, a natural anthraquinone derivative isolated from Rheum palmatum L., has been reported to exhibit anti-cancer effect on several human cancers such as liver cancers and lung cancers.
In this study, we show that treatment with 50 microM emodin resulted in a pronounced release of cytochrome c, activation of caspase-2, -3, and -9, and apoptosis in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells.
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