Yoshinori Ohsumi, now 71, has been exposed to research on autophagy since 1988. At that time, this was an unpopular knowledge and few people were willing to invest in research. Through his persevering efforts, he finally discovered the mechanism of autophagy. This mechanism provides important theories related to cancer, Parkinson’s disease, even diabetes and cell aging, and helps the further development of these diseases. Nobel Prize in Medicine.
What is "autophagy"?
Autophagy is an important mechanism in human cells, which is a function of the cell to clear the damaging substances in the cell and restore the cell to normal. As early as 1962, American scholars discovered the phenomenon of autophagy, but they believed that this was only the process of formation of intracellular lysosome (lysosome, intracellular organelle, which is related to some intracellular digestion).
Then in 1963, Belgian biochemist Christian de Duve discovered that this was not a process of lysate formation, but a new cellular phenomenon, named: autophagy. In 1988, Yoshinori Ohsumi started to study "autophagy". Through observing yeast, he gradually discovered the mechanism of autophagy and the genes that initiate autophagy, revealing many things that were difficult to explain in cell biology in the past. section.
In simple terms, autophagy has two important functions, namely "tail docking to survive" and "scavenger":
Tail docking to survive: When cell nutrients are insufficient, autophagy will be initiated to break down the organelles in the cell to obtain nutrients.
Scavenger: Through autophagy, damaged organelles can be effectively recovered, and these unnecessary parts can be eliminated so that these damaged organelles will not affect the normal operation of cells.
The effect of autophagy on disease
Autophagy is very important for the human body. When there is too much waste in the cell, it will affect the normal operation of the cell; the cell is like a factory. In addition to producing finished products, it also produces a lot of waste. If these wastes are not cleaned up, then It will affect the operation of the factory. When the factory area is full of waste, the factory will naturally not be able to operate. The same is true for cells. If these damaged organelles are not cleaned out, it will cause cell death or disease and cause many diseases.
Cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and some viral and bacterial infections are partly caused by diseases caused by excessive or declining autophagy. If it can successfully crack the role of autophagy in the disease With the role of, you can develop relative drugs and treatment methods to improve the cure rate of patients!
Current research has found that dysfunction of autophagy affects several aspects of the body:
First, cancer formation:
The formation of cancer may be due to the weakening of autophagy, so that the free radicals in the cell increase, which damages the DNA in the nucleus and further leads to the formation of cancer cells.
At the same time, researchers have also discovered that if autophagy in cancer cells is functioning normally, external drugs or radiotherapy will not necessarily cause cancer cells to die, but to stop. Once the cancer cells restart the proliferation mechanism, the condition will be out of control.
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Current research has found that if the autophagy of cancer cells is inhibited while treating cancer, cancer cells can be effectively wiped out, which is beneficial to cancer treatment and has a better prognosis.
Second, neurological diseases:
The most frequently discussed neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and other diseases, are caused by excessive or degeneration of autophagy. Therefore, the current treatment research will take autophagy into consideration. In the future, there will be better results when treating dementia and Parkinson's disease.
Third, diabetes:
Japanese scholars have found in animal experiments that in type 2 diabetes, many cells are not sensitive to insulin. It is because of the decreased autophagy effect that the mitochondria in the cells have problems, and the cells cannot receive the stimulation of insulin smoothly. It can absorb glucose smoothly; some studies have found that autophagy will also affect the ability of β cells to secrete insulin and develop into type 2 diabetes.
For Osumi Yoshinori, the research is unpopular, and it is now a widely studied field in cell biology, and his research results have even been cited thousands of times. It is precisely because of his good foundation that he has become the best stepping stone in this field of research, allowing us to see the cause of the disease and find a real solution. He deserves the Nobel Prize in Medicine!
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