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There are ‘zombie cells’ in our body that do not die and survive. Normally, cells in the body go through stages of division, growth, and death. Existing cells die and new cells are created, maintaining a constant number of cells in the body. However, cells called zombie cells do not die even after several decades.
According to a recent paper published in the international scientific journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, zombie cells can form when the ends of chromosomes are damaged.
At the ends of chromosomes, there are telomeres that form protective caps to prevent damage to genetic material. If this part is damaged, zombie cells or old cells that no longer divide are born.
Zombie cells are resistant to death, so they do not die and continue to accumulate in the body. Since division does not occur, it has the advantage that it does not evolve into cancer even if a mutation occurs. Although they look like healthy cells, they can secrete chemicals that promote inflammation and tumor growth, attracting other nearby cells to become cancer cells.
The older you get, the more zombie cells accumulate, which increases the likelihood of health problems. For this reason, getting rid of zombie cells is one of the main tasks of researchers.
The research team conducted an experiment to inflict damage to telomeres to confirm that zombie cells are actually created when telomeres are damaged. Artificially damaging the telomeres of human cells after culturing them in a laboratory. As a result, favorable conditions were formed in which zombie cells were actually created.
Telomeres naturally shorten with age. When harmful chemicals such as air pollution and cigarette smoke enter the body, free radicals are formed excessively and the telomere shortening period is further accelerated. This ultimately leads to hasten aging-related diseases such as immunodeficiency, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, and cancer.
The research team said that although telomeres, which shorten with the passage of time, cause diseases related to aging, even when directly damaged, zombie cells can form and disease can occur. saw. In a previous mouse experiment, it was confirmed that when zombie cells were removed, cognitive function, muscle mass, etc. improved, and recovery ability in case of infection was also confirmed.
By Moon Se-young, staff reporter [email protected]
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