Under Control to the Very End-How Our Cells Kill Themselves
Published:20 Jun.2023 Source:University of Basel
Until recently, it was assumed that cells simply burst and die at the end of their life. Now, researchers at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, the University of Lausanne and the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE) at ETH Zurich have provided new insights into the final step of cell death. In the scientific journal "Nature", they describe how a protein called ninjurin-1 assembles into filaments that work like a zipper and open the cell membrane, thus leading to the disintegration of the cell. The new insights are an important milestone in the understanding of cell death.
Various signals, such as bacterial components, trigger the cell death machinery. At the final stage of this process, the cell's protective membrane is compromised by tiny pores which allow ions to stream into the cell. Using advanced techniques such as highly sensitive microscopes and NMR spectroscopy, the scientists have been able to elucidate the mechanism by which ninjurin-1 induces membrane rupture at the level of individual atoms. Ninjurin-1 is a small protein embedded in the cell membrane.
The deeper understanding of cell death will facilitate the search for novel drug targets. Therapeutic interventions to treat cancer are conceivable, since some tumor cells evade programmed cell death. Also, in the case of premature cell death observed in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease or in life-threatening conditions such as septic shock, drugs that interfere in this process are a potential treatment option.