keepontruckin
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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/02/240208121733.htm, Feb 8, 2024Scientists discovered a pathway from mitochondrial DNA replication stress to immune system activation and inflammation, finding that endosomes responsible for disposing of dysfunctional mitochondrial DNA were leaking mitochondrial DNA into the cell and prompting the inflammatory immune response. The pathway provides new targets for therapeutics that disrupt inflammation during aging and disease.
The findings, published in Nature Cell Biology on February 8, 2024, offer many new targets for therapeutics to disrupt the inflammatory pathway and therefore mitigate inflammation during aging and diseases, like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.
"We had a huge breakthrough when we saw that mtDNA was inside of a mysterious membrane structure once it left mitochondria -- after assembling all of the puzzle pieces, we realized that structure was an endosome," says first author Laura Newman, former postdoctoral researcher in Shadel's lab and current assistant professor at the University of Virginia. "That discovery eventually led us to the realization that the mtDNA was being disposed of and, in the process, some of it was leaking out."
...They also see an opportunity for therapeutic innovation using this pathway, which represents a new cellular target to reduce inflammation.
The findings, published in Nature Cell Biology on February 8, 2024, offer many new targets for therapeutics to disrupt the inflammatory pathway and therefore mitigate inflammation during aging and diseases, like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.
"We had a huge breakthrough when we saw that mtDNA was inside of a mysterious membrane structure once it left mitochondria -- after assembling all of the puzzle pieces, we realized that structure was an endosome," says first author Laura Newman, former postdoctoral researcher in Shadel's lab and current assistant professor at the University of Virginia. "That discovery eventually led us to the realization that the mtDNA was being disposed of and, in the process, some of it was leaking out."
...They also see an opportunity for therapeutic innovation using this pathway, which represents a new cellular target to reduce inflammation.