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The advent of novel 2D and 3D models for human development, including trophoblast stem cells and blastoids, has expanded opportunities for investigating early developmental events, gradually illuminating the enigmatic realm of human development. While these innovations have ushered in new prospects, it has become essential to establish well-defined benchmarks for the cell sources of these models. We aimed to propose a comprehensive characterization of pluripotent and trophoblastic stem cell models by employing a combination of transcriptomic, proteomic, epigenetic, and metabolic approaches. Our findings reveal that extended pluripotent stem cells share many characteristics with primed pluripotent stem cells, with the exception of metabolic activity. Furthermore, our research demonstrates that DNA hypomethylation and high metabolic activity define trophoblast stem cells. These results underscore the necessity of considering multiple hallmarks of pluripotency rather than relying on a single criterion. Multiplying hallmarks alleviate stage-matching bias., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: We hypothesized that, among the mechanisms of drug-resistance acquired by doxorubicin (DOX)-resistant breast cancer cells to maintain cell survival, ATP-dependent drug efflux pumps could be expressed in their mitochondrial membranes and this might limit the accumulation of DOX in this subcellular compartment in relation to mitochondrial ATP production., Methods/results: Mitochondrial DOX accumulation: the presence and the activity of mitochondrial efflux pumps and their relationship with mitochondrial ATP synthesis were analyzed in DOX-resistant (MCF-7dox R ) and -sensitive (MCF-7 S ) breast cancer cells. Mitochondrial accumulation of DOX (autofluorescence) was decreased when ATP was produced, but only in MCF-7dox R . In these DOX-resistant cells, breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) and multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP1) were expressed and localized in mitochondria (confocal microscopy and confocal spectral imaging studies). In addition, mitochondrial accumulation of DOX was increased by BCRP and MRP1 inhibitors and, to a lower extent, by the mitochondrial ATP synthase inhibitor, oligomycin, in MCF-7dox R ., Conclusions: Both BCRP and MRP1 were localized in mitochondria and participated to the reduction of mitochondrial accumulation of DOX in MCF-7dox R . This process was partly dependent of mitochondrial ATP synthesis., General Significance: The present study provides novel insights in the involvement of mitochondria in the underlying mechanisms of DOX-resistance in breast cancer cells., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)