Despite the fact that modern science is powerless against the death of cells of a living organism, some researchers are optimistic about the future and even suggest that one day a kind of "cellular resuscitation" will become available to humanity, capable of restoring already dead cells. Discovered in 2012, the mysterious process of resurrection of dilapidated cells, called "anastase" ("resurrection" - Greek), can open up incredible prospects for scientists.
Living cells die through a special mechanism called apoptosis. Every day, a living organism gets rid of damaged or obsolete cells, dividing them into separate components, which eventually go to the scavenger cells - macrophages. Apoptosis is a programmed algorithm for cell death and consists of several sequential stages. First of all, nuclear and mitochondrial DNA is destroyed, then peptide bonds between amino acids break down, and as a result, protein molecules are destroyed. Science believed that after the completion of these processes there is no way back for the cell.
In 2012, scientists at California State University made an unexpected discovery. It turned out that some of the cells exposed to strong radiation or exposure to harmful chemicals, which in normal conditions causes the inevitable triggering of apoptosis, showed miracles of vitality. Absolutely incredible processes began to take place in them, which allowed the cells to eventually recover, even despite severe DNA damage. It was this phenomenon that was called anastasis. Moreover, anastasis was characteristic not only for laboratory flies of Drosophila, but also for mammals.
Researchers have carefully studied the process of anastasis, which is not yet fully understood by them, and are preparing a document for publication that reveals some of the secrets of this phenomenon. It turned out that this process is a very ancient evolutionary mechanism that helps to preserve the body's most important cells like neurons or heart muscle cells. Anastasis occurs in two stages: first, cells in which apoptosis has already started begin to prepare for division, and then their daughter cells begin the migration process.
Scientists suspect that it is the anastasis that may explain the recurrence of cancer after patients undergo chemotherapy, since this process can save some cancer cells from death. The study of anastasis will allow modern medicine to exclude such cases and increase the percentage of patients successfully cured of cancer. But, as you already know, this process is interesting not only for oncologists, but also for biologists, who, albeit just a little bit, have become closer to understanding the very “immortality” that humanity has been dreaming of for centuries.
SERGEY GRAY