Development: to stop the mechanism that shortens cell life
Alex Doron
Israeli researchers have succeeded in stopping the mechanism that shortens the life of cells using biological growth factors.
The researchers discovered that each of the cells in our body contains a sophisticated biological clock called a "telomere". This is the end region of each chromosome in the cell, which is steadily getting shorter. In a healthy state, this constant shortening process is a measure of the number of divisions a cell goes through and the expected time of death of the cell and the entire body. When you divide the length of the telomere by its annual rate, you get 120 years at most. According to the length of the telomere, you can check how much time is left until the end of the cell.
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Many scientists are engaged in the study of the mechanism of aging and the cellular brain. In other studies recently carried out in Israel, it was discovered that damage to the physiological mechanism in the telomere, which stops the shortening process, creates basic conditions for the appearance of cancerous mutations in the cell. This is actually the basic explanation for some of the problems that arise after organ transplantation and for severe side effects of chemotherapy.
A new Israeli study managed to find a way to repair the damage caused by chemotherapy to the telomere mechanism. The researcher, Dr. Meir Lahav from the Rabin Medical Center (Blinson), presented the discovery at the American Society of Hematology conference held recently in Philadelphia.
Dr. Lahav said that during a bone marrow transplant, they discovered that cells that divided slowly in the donor's body, began to divide very quickly precisely in the transplanted body. The transplant accelerated the rate of cell division and as a result - the shortening of the telomeres, which causes premature aging of the stem cells in the bone marrow. This is what happened to telomeres after organ transplantation - after each transplantation, the aging of the transplanted organ began to accelerate.
In the study, in which Prof. Arnon Nagler from the Bone Marrow Transplant Department at the Sheba Medical Center also participated, it also became clear that any chemotherapy treatment damages the bone marrow. To combat this injury, the body activates a self-repair mechanism, in which the stem cells divide at breakneck speed. "But this activity also causes premature aging and creates more malignant tumors," explains Dr. Lahav.
In the study it was discovered that an enzyme called tulmerase enters into vigorous activity in the patient's cell. In the healthy cell this enzyme is simply dormant, so the natural shortening of the telomeres took place at a constant rate. It was the vigorous activity of the enzyme that resulted in the rapid aging of the cells.
When the researchers injected biological growth factors (cytokines) subcutaneously after chemotherapy, they inhibited the shortening of telomeres, which prevented the premature aging of stem cells in the bone marrow. The inhibition of the shortening also prevented the appearance of late complications, such as leukemia or bone diseases.
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