La Trobe researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery about the way dying cells are cleared from our bodies, which could have important impacts on recovery from diseases including cancer infection and inflammatory diseases.
Traditionally, it was believed dying cells were broken into smaller pieces by the cell’s own internal machinery, enabling the pieces to be more easily removed from the body.
However the study, led by scientists at the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science and Research Centre for Extracellular Vesicles found that the process of dying cell fragmentation is actually assisted by neighbouring cells.
Published in Science Advances, the study performed high-resolution imaging and revealed that the neighbouring cells have a process that applies mechanical force to split the dying cells into smaller fragments before consuming them.
Study lead Dr Jascinta Santavanond likened the process to eating a loaf of bread.
“It would be quite difficult to eat a loaf of bread whole. So you need to go in and break it apart and make bite-sized pieces that are suitable for you to eat and digest. By doing this, you also leave these little breadcrumbs around, allowing you to share pieces of that bread with your neighbour or friends,” she said.
Dr Santavanond said the study suggests the process is a crucial adaptation for efficient clearance of dying cells, especially in tissues where neighbouring cells may have limited capacity to engulf large objects.
“Every day, a billion cells die in our bodies and if they are not rapidly removed their accumulation can lead to inflammation and interfere with normal tissue function,” she said.
“By fragmenting dying cells into optimally sized pieces, neighbouring cells enhance their own ability to maintain function and stability.
“This research not only expands our knowledge on how dying cells undergo fragmentation and are cleared – which is important for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases – but this work may benefit the development of cell therapy for treatments including for cancer.”
The study also involved researchers from other institutions, in particular Dr Georgia Atkin-Smith from The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, and Dr Esteban Hoijman from the Spanish Research Council, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research.
The full paper Resident phagocytes promote non-cell-autonomous fragmentation of apoptotic cells can be read here.
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