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CoolHand [soylentnews.org] writes:

An interesting discovery [innovations-report.com] could lead to more methods for battling some diseases and prolonging life.

Researchers at IMBA – Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences have discovered that an enzyme called HACE1 is the key regulator of the death receptor TNFR1. The TNF receptor 1 is located on the cell membrane and decides whether a cell will live or die.

In the human body there is a constant balance between cell growth and cell death. Cells that are old or diseased must be eliminated. The destruction of diseased cells plays a major role especially in infectious diseases, chronic inflammatory diseases, and cancer.

The enzyme HACE1 acts like a railway switch. It decides whether a cell will live or die.

Signals coming from death receptors located on the cell surface tell the cells whether they can continue to live and divide, or if they must take the path of destruction. The orderly path is apoptosis, in which the cell dismantles itself into its individual components and is taken up by phagocytes.

But there is another path to cell destruction. It is regulated by distinct signals, and is called necroptosis. It starts via the same signals as apoptosis, but then the cells commence self-digestion. As in pathological necrosis, the cell components make their way into the extracellular space, causing an inflammatory reaction in the surrounding tissue.

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