Association between plasma L-carnitine levels and mitochondrial DNA copy number

Mingyue Li; Keming Yang; Immaculata De Vivo; A Heather Eliassen; Abrar A Qureshi; Hongmei Nan; Jiali Han

doi:10.1186/s12860-023-00496-z

Association between plasma L-carnitine levels and mitochondrial DNA copy number

BMC Mol Cell Biol. 2023 Dec 11;24(1):35. doi: 10.1186/s12860-023-00496-z.

Authors

Mingyue Li¹, Keming Yang^{2

3}, Immaculata De Vivo^{4

5

6

7}, A Heather Eliassen^{4

5

6

8}, Abrar A Qureshi⁹, Hongmei Nan^{1

10}, Jiali Han^{11

12

13}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, 1050 Wishard Boulevard, RG 6124, Indianapolis, IN, 46202-2872, USA.
² Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
³ Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸ Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁹ Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Global Health, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
¹¹ Department of Epidemiology, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, 1050 Wishard Boulevard, RG 6124, Indianapolis, IN, 46202-2872, USA. jialhan@iu.edu.
¹² Department of Global Health, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA. jialhan@iu.edu.
¹³ Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, Indianapolis, IN, USA. jialhan@iu.edu.

Abstract

Mitochondria are key cytoplasmic organelles in eukaryotic cells that generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP) through the electron transport chain and oxidative phosphorylation. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number (mtDNAcn) is considered a biomarker for both mitochondrial quantity and function as well as cellular oxidative stress level. Previous epidemiologic findings revealed that weight gain, higher body mass index (BMI), smoking, and high insulinemic potential of lifestyle were associated with lower leukocyte mtDNAcn. Carnitines are a group of compounds that play a critical role in energy production. We quantified the associations of plasma L-carnitine levels with leukocyte mtDNAcn. We then examined the association between mtDNAcn and L-carnitine (HMDB0000062) in 538 U.S. men without cancers, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease at blood collection from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS). We found a significant inverse association between L-carnitine and mtDNAcn (ρ = -0.1, P = 0.02). This implies that the carnitine metabolic pathway may be associated with mitochondrial function and oxidative stress.

Keywords: Body mass index; Cross-sectional study; L-carnitine; Metabolites; Mitochondria; Mitochondrial DNA copy number.

MeSH terms

DNA Copy Number Variations* / genetics
DNA, Mitochondrial* / genetics
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Male
Mitochondria / genetics
Oxidative Stress

Substances

DNA, Mitochondrial

Grants and funding

U01 CA167552/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States