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Illustration of a healthy (left) cell next to a cell that was affected by necrosis (right)
The secret to keeping young people may not be an expensive cream or a fashion supplement, but the control of a type of cell death that has gone unnoticed – and that scientists say it is the true hidden guilty behind aging.
A necrosis – the uncontrolled “bursting” of damaged cells – is a chaotic form of cell death that shed toxins and causes widespread damage to the tissues.
In a new one, recently published in the magazine Oncogenea team of investigators maintains that necrosis can be a important factor behind all kinds of clinical conditions, from cancer and heart attacks to kidney diseases and to aging.
Our body constantly eliminates old cellsdamaged or infected, through a highly controlled process called apoptosiswhich eliminates cellular waste without damaging the surrounding tissues.
Unlike this carefully orchestrated process, necrosis is Essentially cellular chaos: The broken membranes pour enzymes, DNA fragments and inflammatory signs in the nearby tissues.
These poured contents act as alarm signs that attract immunity cells and trigger more inflammationexplains the.
“Necrosis is an uncontrolled cell death that marks the irreversible threshold of biological degeneration, ”says in the main author of the study, Carina KernCEO of, Biotechnology based at the University of Cambridge that promoted the investigation.
If scientists get Learn to lock this chaossays Kern, therapies can no longer just a way to clean the damage – and become the way close the tap.
O cancer is the most dramatic example of necrosis in actionthe. Researchers report that necrosis is “a widespread characteristic of many aggressive fast -growing tumors,” including breast, kidney, prostate and endometrium cancers.
When tumors grow so quickly that they exceed their blood supply, its nuclei become necrotic.
One might think that this is beneficial; After all, if cancer cells are dying, isn’t that what we want? Unfortunately, reality is more sinister.
These necrotic regions become places of reproduction of the worst aspects of cancer behavior. The dying tissue releases inflammatory signs that actually help tumors develop new blood vessels, become genetically more unstable and spread to other parts of the body.
Necrosis also interferes with the treatment of cancer. Many chemotherapy medications need oxygen to function effectively, but necrotic areas usually have little oxygen. This creates cancer shrines where tumors can hide from treatment.
Cancer is just the beginning. Researchers trace the destructive path of necrosis in almost all major age -related diseases.
In the kidneys, tubular cell necrosis is responsible for both sudden renal injury and slow progression for kidney disease potentially chronic that affects about half of people up to 75.
In the heart and brainNecrosis is responsible for damage caused by heart attacks or strokes.
When blood flow is cut and then restored, a process called Ische-reperfusion injurythe resulting cellular damage and necrosis can be more harmful than the original blockade.
O Brain is perhaps the most worrying example. In Alzheimer’s and Parkinson diseases, protein aggregates and oxidative stress push neurons into necrosis, feeding inflammation that accelerates cell loss.
But the most exciting result of the new study is the conclusion that necrosis can be a central factor of aging.
Low degree necrotic damage accumulate over timetriggering problems that we associate with aging: genetic instability, chronic inflammation and tissue dysfunction.
As we get older, Our cells become more susceptible necrosis and our ability to repair damage decreases, which helps to explain why aging seems to accelerate.
If necrosis is such a crucial target, Because we haven’t solved it yet?
Unlike programmed cell death, which can be blocked aiming at specific genes and proteins, Necrosis has no genetic regulationmaking it much harder to control. Current approaches have focused on blocking the triggering factors of necrosis or trying to prevent subsequent damage.
Both strategies have serious limitations. Anti-inflammatory drugs may make patients vulnerable to infections while trying to block individual destructive enzymes is extremely difficult.
“Necrosis has been hidden in the sight of all. As the final phase of cell death, it has been widely neglected. But growing evidence shows that It is much more than an end point“Says Carina Kern.
“It is a central mechanism through which systemic degeneration not only arises but also propagates. This makes it a Critical Point of Convergence In many diseases, ”adds the researcher.
According to the investigators, put necrosis as a central focus medical investigation could open the doors to treatments that could prevent the spread of damage to a heart attack, prevent cancer from metastializingdelay the progression of kidney diseases, reduce neurodegeneration and potentially Retar the aging itself.
“Necrosis one of the end borders in medicine – A destructive process has long accepted as intractable and inevitable, ”concludes Kern.
