Release date: 2017-08-23
Generally speaking, a newly renovated new house cannot be immediately inhabited. Why? Because the air may contain more carcinogenic formaldehyde. However, formaldehyde is naturally produced in the human body. Recently, a group of scientists from the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Medical Research Council (MRC) found that formaldehyde in the human body is not completely derived from the external environment, but may also be a by-product of cellular activities, and formaldehyde. Can participate in important metabolic processes in the human body! This finding may change the current treatment of cancer.
According to their experimental results published in the journal Nature, a part of formaldehyde in the human body is actually a by-product of "one carbon metabolism" in the human body. Dr. Ketan Patel, the lead author of the paper and the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Medical Research Council, said: "We already know that the body will produce formaldehyde by itself, but we never know where its source is. This time, to our surprise, A part of formaldehyde comes from one of the basic activities of our life, 'one carbon metabolism'. One carbon metabolism is accompanied by vitamin folic acid, which produces the basic raw material Amino Acids of nucleotides and cellular activities, which are the basics of all living organisms in the biosphere. Life Events."
The reason why formaldehyde is regarded as a toxic and harmful substance is because it causes damage to DNA. However, the cells of the human body have established two lines of defense in order to resist the adverse effects of formaldehyde. First, the cells of the human body will react with formaldehyde to become a relatively safe chemical substance, formic acid. Secondly, the DNA destroyed by formaldehyde can be used. DNA repair enzymes to repair.
Dr. Patel said: "The amazing thing is that although the body itself synthesizes highly toxic formaldehyde, it is eventually converted into formate, a source of energy for carbon metabolism, a synthesis of specific amino acids and DNA. Folic acid and formaldehyde are for the human body. It is a double-edged sword, which is the material basis of life activities and the 'terminator' of DNA.†This study also found out why cancers now have resistance to chemotherapy and anticancer drugs, so they can stop folic acid. For methotrexate, which is involved in human carbon metabolism. In the opinion of the researchers, when folic acid is prevented from entering, the cancer cells will further spread in the human body under the nourishment of formaldehyde.
The results of this study will find new entry points for the development of cancer treatments in the future. For example, patients with BRCA1 or BRCA2 breast cancer lack DNA repair enzymes to protect them from formaldehyde toxicity. In the lab, the researchers mimicked the process of formaldehyde production in humans (that is, the way in which folic acid was added to artificially cultivated cells), and they found that BRCA-mutated cancer cells did not have any resistance to formaldehyde toxicity. Causes fatal damage to cells. However, formaldehyde does not affect the surrounding healthy cells, because their DNA repair system is still very sound. Dr. Patel commented: "'One carbon metabolism' is already the main entry point for cancer drugs today, and this research has brought us more possibilities."
In the course of the study, the researchers also found that the more folic acid intake in the cells cultured in the laboratory, the more formaldehyde is produced and the overall toxicity is stronger. The embarrassing thing is that folic acid is a water-soluble vitamin. The lack of folic acid can cause neural tube defects in infants (it is a must-have vitamin for pregnant women). In addition, for adults, folic acid promotes the maturation of young cells in the bone marrow, and humans lack of folic acid can cause macrocytic anemia and leukopenia.
It should be noted that the above experiments were carried out in artificially cultured cells, and generally differed from the actual conditions in the human body. For example, folic acid is water soluble and excess folic acid in the body can be excreted with urine. The authors of the study also reminded us that the effects of biological folic acid intake are inconclusive. In any case, I believe that maintaining a suitable range for nutritional intake will be the right strategy.
As with all landmark discoveries, this study has unresolved issues as well. The authors determined that folic acid is one of the sources of formaldehyde, but other sources exist in mammalian cells. The relative contribution of each source to one-carbon metabolism is unclear, and the biological context in which it is used and the interaction between formaldehyde and other single-carbon donors (such as serine) remains to be confirmed. The mechanism by which formaldehyde participates in the regulation of a single carbon metabolism is still a mystery.
In addition, when nutrients are easily ingested, formates are produced in excess of the biological requirements, suggesting that for formaldehyde detoxification, the formate for metabolism can be stored in a disguised manner. Perhaps in a multicellular environment such as the tumor microenvironment, there is a lack of amino acids required for one-carbon metabolism. Therefore, this research has opened up many new directions. Given that the results of the study are undoubtedly related to the cause of cancer and that the technology can be applied to the various biological research branches involved, we can expect more results later.
Source: DeepTech Deep Technology (micro signal mit-tr)
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