Nature sub-journal breaks conventional wisdom: cell death process is reversible

Researchers at the University of Illinois describe a new method for analyzing the process of pyroptosis cell death, which is often caused by infection, leading to excess inflammation in the body and showing a process long thought to be irreversible, But in fact this can be stopped and controlled
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The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, mean that scientists have a new way to study diseases associated with the process of cell death, such as some cancers, and infections that can be complicated by runaway inflammation caused by the process
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Escharation is a series of biochemical reactions that use a protein called gasdermin to open large pores in the cell membrane, destabilizing the cell
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"The process of cell death plays an important role in the body, in both healthy and unhealthy states, but studying cell death -- a major type of cell death -- says Gary Mo, UIC Pharmacology, Assistant Professor in the Department of Regenerative Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine
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Methods to detect the mechanisms of pyroptosis in living cells are difficult to control because they are triggered by unpredictable pathogens that affect different cells and people differently, Mo said
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"Our optogenetic gas epidermal protein allows us to skip unpredictable pathogen behavior and variable cellular responses because it mimics at the molecular level what happens after cellular pyrolysis is initiated
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The researchers used the tool and fluorescence imaging to precisely activate gas embryo sacs in cell experiments and observe pores under various conditions
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This automatic response to the external environment provides evidence for the dynamic self-regulation of eschar
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"This shows us that this form of cell death is not a one-way ticket
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article title

Gasdermin D pores are dynamically regulated by local phosphoinositide circuitry