A brand new research reported in Nature has decided that the amino acid cysteine may promote regeneration amongst cells within the small gut. The work confirmed that cysteine can activate an immune signaling cascade that enhances the regrowth of intestinal cells and tissues. Whereas this research was carried out in a mouse mannequin, it could be related to most cancers sufferers whose intestinal tissues might be broken by radiation remedy. It might be potential to enhance the expansion of broken tissue with a cysteine wealthy food plan or dietary supplements, the researchers prompt.
“The sweetness right here is we’re not utilizing an artificial molecule; we’re exploiting a pure dietary compound,” famous senior research creator Omer Yilmaz, director of the MIT Stem Cell Initiative, an affiliate professor of biology at MIT, amongst different appointments.
Earlier work has indicated that sure diets can improve the actions of intestinal stem cells, however this analysis has revealed one molecule specifically that may assist tissue regeneration within the gut.
On this work, the investigators fed teams of mice particular diets, every wealthy in one in all twenty amino acids. Intestinal regeneration was assessed in every group, and cysteine has probably the most important impact on stem cells and cells that turn out to be intestinal cells, also called progenitor cells,
As cysteine was taken up within the intestinal lining, it was transformed right into a molecule referred to as CoA, which was launched into the intestinal mucosa. CD8 T cells can take in CoA, triggering mobile proliferation and the manufacturing of a signaling molecule referred to as IL-22, which is a cytokine recognized to be associated to intestinal stem cell regeneration. The activated cells that launch IL-22 can restore injury to the intestinal lining.
“What’s actually thrilling right here is that feeding mice a cysteine-rich food plan results in the growth of an immune cell inhabitants that we usually do not affiliate with IL-22 manufacturing and the regulation of intestinal stemness,” mentioned Yilmaz. “What occurs in a cysteine-rich food plan is that the pool of cells that make IL-22 will increase, notably the CD8 T-cell fraction.”
Further work by this group has indicated that cysteine-rich diets can increase regeneration after publicity to an intestine-damaging most cancers drug often called 5-fluorouracil.
Excessive-protein meals like meat, dairy, legumes, some fish, and nuts include excessive ranges of cysteine. The liver additionally produces cysteine by changing one other amino acid often called methionine to cysteine. However cysteine derived from the liver strikes by your complete physique with out accumulating within the small gut, as diet-derived cysteine does.
Sources: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Nature
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