A Wrinkly Cell Could be Solution to Aging
There is piling evidence pointing to regulation of heterochromatin at the nuclear envelope underlying metabolic disease susceptibility and age‐dependent metabolic changes, but the mechanism is not well known, yet.
Now, a team from the University Of Virginia School Of Medicine has found that inside an individual cell’s nucleus, the location of our DNA is of absolute importance for proper functioning. Genes that sit up against the nuclear membrane, tend to remain switched off.
However, as our body ages, these membranes tend to become irregular in shape, or wrinkly, and genes that should remain switched off may become over-expressed.
“We have the same DNA in every single cell, but each cell is different,” explains Irina Bochkis, one of the scientists working on the project. “So how does that work? Well, actually, certain genes need to be on in the liver and they have to be turned off in the brain, for example, and vice versa. If they’re not turned off appropriately, then you have problems.”
By looking at a model of fatty liver disease, the study’s team found that our livers become studded with fat as we age because of the wrinkly nuclear
membranes. “When your nuclear membrane is no longer functioning properly, it can release the DNA that’s supposed to be turned off. So then your little liver cell becomes a little fat cell.”They explain how this accumulation of fat inside the liver can result in a number of serious health effects, including the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, even potentially leading to death. The membrane wrinkling occurs due in the absence of a particular membrane protein called lamin. Therefore, by appropriating lamin, the scientists believe smoothening out the membrane, like Retinol helps smooth face wrinkles could be possible.
And they have a brilliant idea to achieve this- Viruses!
They think they could employ viruses to deliver the shipment. Since viruses are already being modified for beneficial medical purposes, and it would be particularly easy to get a modified virus to the liver because of the organ’s role in detoxifying the body. And if it works? “You’re going to have normal cells – normal, healthy cells – and they will appropriately express the genes that should be expressed and … you’re going to eradicate the stuff that shouldn’t be there,” Bochkis said.
“Every time I give this talk to colleagues, they say, ‘Well, do you think this is a universal mechanism?’” she said. “In my opinion, I think it is.”
