TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Researchers from Academia Sinica have discovered that ferroptotic trigger waves, a type of cellular signaling system, are responsible for large-scale cell death.
At a press conference on Thursday (July 18), Professor Chen Sheng-hong (陳昇宏), who led the team, revealed their findings. The institute said the team’s research can provide new insights for cancer therapy, per CNA.
Chen said cells rapidly proliferate into tissues and organs in multicellular organisms. However, the reason for accompanying large-scale cell death has remained a mystery for over a century.
The team explained that unlike regular cell death, ferroptosis, or death by iron accumulation, has only recently been looked at. The team said they discovered the feedback loop of reactive oxygen species, a kind of unstable molecule, is the main mechanism behind ferroptosis trigger waves.
Ferroptosis trigger waves induced by reactive oxygen species can cause the death of millions of cells at once, Chen explained. When a cell receives this signal, it passes it to the next cell, similar to a domino effect.
Academia Sinica said the team’s research explores the causes of cell death and can assist biomedicine research. The team’s findings were published in Nature on July 10.