.webp "Cells \"Vomit\" Waste in a Hidden Healing Shortcut – But There's a Catch!")
Scientists have just uncovered a surprising new healing mechanism in injured cells, and it's a bit… messy! This newly discovered process, dubbed "cathartocytosis," involves cells essentially "vomiting" out their internal machinery. While this quick and dirty shortcut helps tissues regenerate faster, it leaves behind debris that can fuel inflammation and even lead to cancer.
The Speedy Clean-Up Act
When cells are injured, they have several ways to repair themselves. One well-known method is self-destruction to get rid of dead or damaged cells. Another involves older cells reverting to a younger, more flexible state to grow new, healthy tissue.
Now, a study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Baylor College of Medicine has revealed a previously unknown cellular purging process. They found that injured cells can jettison their internal components to more rapidly transform into a stem cell-like state, ready to divide and repair damaged tissue. They've named this process "cathartocytosis," from Greek root words meaning "cellular cleansing."
"After an injury, the cell's job is to repair that injury. But the cell's mature cellular machinery for doing its normal job gets in the way," explains Dr. Jeffrey W. Brown, first author of the study. "So, this cellular cleanse is a quick way of getting rid of that machinery so it can rapidly become a small, primitive cell capable of proliferating and repairing the injury."
Brown likens it to cells "vomiting" waste, providing a shortcut to declutter and focus on regrowth much faster than a gradual, controlled waste disposal.
The Downside of This Shortcut
While cathartocytosis offers a speedy recovery, it's not without its risks. This rapid purging is "messy," and the resulting ejected cellular waste can fuel inflammation. This is particularly concerning in cases of chronic injury, where ongoing cathartocytosis could lead to persistent inflammation and increase the risk of cancer.
Dr. Jason C. Mills, the study's senior author, highlights this trade-off: "In these gastric cells, paligenosis – reversion to a stem cell state for healing – is a risky process, especially now that we've identified the potentially inflammatory downsizing of cathartocytosis within it." He explains that if many older, mutated cells revert to stem cell states to repair an injury, combined with inflammation, it significantly increases the risk of harmful mutations leading to cancer.
The researchers believe cathartocytosis could play a role in infections like Helicobacter pylori, which damages the stomach and increases cancer risk.
New Avenues for Detection and Treatment
Understanding cathartocytosis could open new doors for detecting and treating stomach cancer, and potentially other GI cancers. Brown and his collaborator Dr. Koushik K. Das have developed an antibody that binds to the waste products ejected during cathartocytosis. This means they might be able to detect when this process is happening in large quantities, potentially serving as a marker for precancerous conditions, allowing for earlier detection and treatment.
"If we have a better understanding of this process, we could develop ways to help encourage the healing response and perhaps, in the context of chronic injury, block the damaged cells undergoing chronic cathartocytosis from contributing to cancer formation," Brown concluded.
