Mitochondrial carriers in inflammation induced by bacterial endotoxin and cytokines

Significant metabolic changes occur in the shift from resting to activated cellular status in inflammation. Thus, changes in expression of a large number of genes and extensive metabolic reprogramming gives rise to acquisition of new functions (e.g. production of cytokines, intermediates for biosynthesis, lipid mediators, PGE, ROS and NO). In this context, mitochondrial carriers, which catalyze the transport of solute across mitochondrial membrane, change their expression to transport mitochondrially produced molecules, among which citrate and succinate, to be used as intracellular signalling molecules in inflammation. This review summarizes the mitochondrial carriers studied so far that are, directly or indirectly, involved in inflammation.