What are the benefits of cell aging? it enhances insulin secretion.

A new study suggests that a cellular program that causes aging can also bring unexpected benefits to insulin beta cells and insulin production in mice and humans.
related findings published in the journal Nature Medicine.
the study was carried out by Ronny Helman, a postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University, under the guidance of Dr. Ittai Ben-Porath and Professor Yuval Dor, in collaboration with scientists from Canada and the United States.
in the study, researchers tested the activity of a gene called p16, which is known to activate a program called aging in cells.
aging prevents cell division and therefore plays an important role in the prevention of cancer.
during aging, the p16 gene increases its activity in pancreatic beta cells in humans and mice, limiting their potential for division.
this activity is thought to have a negative effect - these cells can cause diabetes if they lack the ability, because beta cells are the cells responsible for secreting insulin, and when blood sugar levels are high, their loss can lead to diabetes.
However, it is entirely unknown whether the aging beta cells will continue to function.
researchers were surprised to find that p16 and cell aging actually improve the main function of beta cells during normal aging: insulin secretion after glucose stimulation.
because insulin secretion increases during the normal aging of mice and is driven by increased p16 activity, some of these cells actually begin to play a better role.
researchers also found that p16 activation and aging in beta cells in diabetic mice promote insulin secretion, partially reversing the disease and improving the health of mice. Similar experiments in human cells
showed that aging-induced insulin secretion increased, conservative between mice and humans, and suggested that the p16 gene was the main driver in both organisms. "The aging of cells is often thought of as a state in which cells lose their function and contribute to tissue aging and disease," said Dr. Ittai Ben-Porath,
.
So when we observed that when beta cells enter this state during normal aging, the program makes them function better, not worse, and we are very surprised.
" Ronny Helman, who completed the study while doing postdoctoral research at the Hebrew University, said: "These results suggest that what we are talking about is actually a continuous process, starting with a mature process that actually improves the function of cells and tissues at the expense of regenerative potential.
this has an important impact on how we consider beta cell function and disorders in diabetes. "What's new in these findings is that they show for the first time that beta cells actually improve their function during a healthy aging process, at least in some ways,"
.
the study also provides a basic understanding of "what happens to beta cells during aging, that is, a trade-off between their ability to divide and regenerate, and their ability to function."
more generally, p16 and cell aging - until now considered to be stressful for injury, stress, and tumor development - but in the case of islet beta cells, they actually regulate the maturation of normal functional tissues as they age.
aging regulates insulin secretion, a finding that could have broad implications for understanding and treating diabetes.
it highlights a new mechanism for beta cell function and insulin secretion enhancement and shows that drugs that affect cell division and aging may affect beta cell function, getting better or worse.
current drugs given to cancer patients can induce aging, but their effects on insulin secretion have not been well studied.
Given these findings, we can imagine that tools that activate aging should lead to better diabetes treatment.
In December, a study by Vanderbilt University in the United States reported that microtubes, the "highway" in cells, transport proteins into cell membranes for secretion, playing a surprising role in pancreatic beta cells.
they do not promote the secretion of insulin, but have a limited effect on them, the study was published in DevelopmentAl Cell.
a study published in the journal Science at the same time revealed the genetic pathways in which the biological clock directs insulin secretion and controls blood sugar levels (Science: The Clock that Controls Insulin Secretion).
these findings could help provide better treatment for people with diabetes.
these results provide new ways to study and treat diabetes.
Source: Decoding Medicine.