Researchers from the Cancer University Cancer Center in the United States have replaced the key to the key that transforms intestinal cells into renewable stem cells. The discovery may lead to better treatments for colon and rectal cancer and other types of cancer.
Stem cells are defined as non -distinct cells that have the ability to generate specialized cells for the tissues in which they are located, at a time when normal cells follow a typical cycle where they grow, divide and die.
Cells are an essential part of the growth of multi -cell organisms, as it produces cells with unique properties such as muscle cells, neurons and red blood cells, and thus the cells enable the formation of tissues and organs with specific functions. It also plays a vital role in tissue regeneration, especially the skin and blood, which requires continuous repair and renewal. In general, once the cell is differentiated, you cannot return to its non -distinct condition, with some exceptions.
The professor of pediatrics and biology at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Colorado, Dr. Peter Dempsey, and Dr. Justin Brombo, assistant professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the University of Colorado Bulder in the United States, published the results of their studies in the “Nature Cell Biology”, and wrote about the Yorik Alier site.
“The intestine has an enormous ability to renew itself after the injury, as the intestine cells return to a type of renewable stem cell after the injury, fix what is corrupted and then returns again to its normal role,” Dempsey explains.
Find the key
Brombo says that scientists have long been searching for the “key” that converts regular intestinal cells into renewable stem cells. The research team using animal models found that a vital chemical process occurs inside the “Histone Protein” protein responsible for activating and disrupting this flexible condition. Histon H3 plays a decisive role in organizing genes.
“If we contemplate it, the cells usually in the intestine must keep their identity until it works efficiently. It must be ensured that they do not turn when it is not supposed to turn, because it loses its specialized function, and it is also a distinctive feature of cancer,” says Brombo.
The researchers say that the next step is to search for ways to target this process to stop or activate it as needed to treat colon and rectum cancer and bowel diseases that may lead to cancer.
“This process appears to play a role in the differentiation of cells, but if it is stopped the cells returns to the condition of renewable stem cells,” says Dempsey. “This renewed condition is important when infection and repair, but there are also some types of colon and rectal cancer that bear this exact regenerative genetic fingerprint. Chronic colitis and inflammatory bowel disease.”
Dempsey says this process may also have effects on resisting chemotherapy and radiotherapy. “When the cells turn into the condition of renewable stem cells, they become more resistant to some treatments, and this is a problem.”
“If you have a patient who does not have colon cancer, but it is subject to chemotherapy or radiotherapy, one of the side effects of these treatments is to destroy intestinal stem cells. In some patients, if the dose is not determined properly, this may lead to the entire intestine lining. If we can understand how this condition is returned to normal, we may be able to protect cells more.”