MELBOURNE, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Scientists in Australia have uncovered a previously unknown way viruses could spread around the body, potentially paving the way for more effective drug development.
Published in Nature Communications, the research, led by Australia's La Trobe University (LTU), uncovers new understanding of the process of cell death and renewal, according to an LTU statement released Friday.
The research shows how each step in the process is critical to help a dying cell break down and be cleared away by the body's immune system, it said.
Researchers discovered that as cells self-destruct, they change shape, lift away from their surroundings, and leave behind a residue dubbed "the footprint of death" which contains a previously undiscovered type of Extracellular Vesicle (EV) -- tiny packages released by cells to transport proteins, lipids, DNA and RNA to other cells, serving as a crucial mechanism for communication between cells.
The new EVs, known as F-ApoEVs, mark the site of a dead cell and serve as "breadcrumb clues" to help the immune system identify and clean up cell fragments, preventing unwanted inflammation, researchers said.
However, early tests on cells also revealed that when dying cells are infected with influenza, the virus can hijack the clean-up process by hiding particles inside the F-ApoEVs, which could aid the spread of infection to neighboring cells.
"Understanding this basic biological process could open new avenues of research to develop new treatments that harness these steps and help the immune system better fight disease," said Professor Ivan Poon, director of LTU's Research Center for Extracellular Vesicles.
"Until now, it was believed that the cell fragmentation process during cell death was random and fairly simple," Poon said, adding the findings demonstrate the complexity of this process and highlight how each step is actually critical to help the dying cell break down efficiently and to be cleared away by the immune system.
Study lead researcher, PhD candidate Stephanie Rutter at the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, said the study demonstrated the importance of cell-to-cell communication to maintain health, and how these processes can be manipulated by viruses.
The discovery could lead to better understanding and eventually better therapies for infectious and autoimmune disease, researchers said, adding the study has revealed that dying cells can continue to "communicate from the grave" and may impact immune function. ■
