Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40829982›Full record

ArticleNeurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics2025

Cyanide overproduction impairs cellular bioenergetics in Down syndrome.

Maria Petrosino, Karim Zuhra, Anna Kieronska-Rudek, Lucia Janickova, Olivier Bremer, Moustafa Khalaf, Brian A Logue, Csaba Szabo

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Catechol-Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Cystathionine γ-lyase is a major regulator of cognitive function through neurotrophin signaling and neurogenesis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  7. Gasotransmitter signaling in the brain: New frontiers for therapeutics.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025
    Article
  8. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Maria PetrosinoSection of Pharmacology, Department of Oncology, Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Karim ZuhraSection of Pharmacology, Department of Oncology, Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Anna Kieronska-RudekSection of Pharmacology, Department of Oncology, Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Lucia JanickovaSection of Pharmacology, Department of Oncology, Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Olivier BremerSection of Pharmacology, Department of Oncology, Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Moustafa KhalafDepartment of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Physics, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, USA.
Brian A LogueDepartment of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Physics, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, USA.
Csaba SzaboSection of Pharmacology, Department of Oncology, Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland. Electronic address: csaba.szabo@unifr.ch.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cyanide exerts its toxic effects primarily by inhibiting mitochondrial Complex IV (Cytochrome c oxidase, CCOx). Recent studies have shown that mammalian cells can endogenously produce cyanide from glycine via a lysosomal pathway. At low concentrations, cyanide may play regulatory roles, but at higher levels, it causes metabolic inhibition. Here we show that Down syndrome (DS) cells and tissues exhibit significant overproduction of cyanide, contributing to cellular metabolic suppression. DS rats show elevated blood cyanide levels, and their tissues generate more cyanide than wild-type controls-both under basal conditions and following glycine supplementation. Similarly, human DS fibroblasts produce higher levels of cyanide than healthy control cells. We attribute this increased cyanide production in DS to the marked downregulation of thiosulfate sulfurtransferase (TST, also known as rhodanese), the key enzyme responsible for cyanide detoxification. Importantly, suppression of lysosomal cyanide production in DS cells (through cyanide scavengers, lysosomal deacidification, or inhibition of serine/glycine conversion) improves cellular bioenergetics and/or enhances cell proliferation rates. Previous work has implicated excessive hydrogen sulfide (H

Indexed as

CyanidesDown SyndromeEnergy MetabolismAnimalsCells, CulturedFibroblastsGlycineHumansMaleRatsRats, Sprague-DawleyThiosulfate SulfurtransferaseCyanidesGlycineThiosulfate SulfurtransferaseBioenergeticsGasotransmittersMitochondria

Identifiers

PMID40829982
PMCPMC12664448

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.