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from the turning-back-the-hands-of-time dept.
Molecular 'switch' reverses chronic inflammation and aging:
Chronic inflammation, which results when old age, stress or environmental toxins keep the body's immune system in overdrive, can contribute to a variety of devastating diseases, from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to diabetes and cancer.
Now, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have identified a molecular "switch" that controls the immune machinery responsible for chronic inflammation in the body. The finding, which appears online Feb. 6 in the journal Cell Metabolism, could lead to new ways to halt or even reverse many of these age-related conditions.
[...] In the study, Chen and her team show that a bulky collection of immune proteins called the NLRP3 inflammasome -- responsible for sensing potential threats to the body and launching an inflammation response -- can be essentially switched off by removing a small bit of molecular matter in a process called deacetylation.
Overactivation of the NLRP3 inflammasome has been linked to a variety of chronic conditions, including multiple sclerosis, cancer, diabetes and dementia. Chen's results suggest that drugs targeted toward deacetylating, or switching off, this NLRP3 inflammasome might help prevent or treat these conditions and possibly age-related degeneration in general.
"This acetylation can serve as a switch," Chen said. "So, when it is acetylated, this inflammasome is on. When it is deacetylated, the inflammasome is off."
[...] "I think this finding has very important implications in treating major human chronic diseases," Chen said. "It's also a timely question to ask, because in the past year, many promising Alzheimer's disease trials ended in failure. One possible explanation is that treatment starts too late, and it has gone to the point of no return. So, I think it's more urgent than ever to understand the reversibility of aging-related conditions and use that knowledge to aid a drug development for aging-related diseases."
Journal Reference:
Ming He, Hou-Hsien Chiang, Hanzhi Luo, Zhifang Zheng, Qi Qiao, Li Wang, Mingdian Tan, Rika Ohkubo, Wei-Chieh Mu, Shimin Zhao, Hao Wu, Danica Chen. An Acetylation Switch of the NLRP3 Inflammasome Regulates Aging-Associated Chronic Inflammation and Insulin Resistance. Cell Metabolism, 2020; DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2020.01.009
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 11 2020, @09:53PM (1 child)
Different AC here. (And I *always* post AC.)
Every freaking site out there demands a login. Even the Green Site a while back finally banned anonymous posting. This is one of the few remaining places where you can still post your ideas and let them stand on their own. I am not about to wear a name tag simply to have permission to speak. Give the surveillance society a rest.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by RS3 on Tuesday February 11 2020, @10:24PM
I shouldn't even respond to your post, but once again, leap-o-logic. Now I'm supporting a surveillance society? Ridiculous statements like yours severely degrade what could be a great think-tank. And I suppose my responding to you also degrades the conversation.
How would a login allow surveillance?
How would being AC make it more difficult to surveil you?
And, really, who would care to? Methinks you think too highly of yourself.
BTW, AFAIK, "green site" allows you to post AC if you have a login and are otherwise logged in.