A research group led by Professor Tomohiro Numata of Fukuoka University School of Medicine and Professor Emeritus Yasunobu Okada of the National Institute for Physiological Sciences has elucidated for the first time in the world the mechanism that keeps the size of expanded cells constant.
Cells are always kept at a constant size, and if this size regulation mechanism is lost due to viral infection, administration of anticancer drugs, gene mutation, etc., they will not function normally and die.Therefore, elucidation of the cell size regulation mechanism is expected to lead to the control of cell life and death, leading to the removal of cancer cells and the development of new therapies.
This time, the research group discovered that among the functions to keep the cell size constant, there is a mechanism to suppress the swelling and return the cell to its original size.When a cell expands due to stimulation or excitement, the swelling sensor protein (TRPM7) on the cell membrane that senses the swelling increases intracellular calcium, producing the protein VSOR that restores the cell to its original size.Then, TRPM7 anchors VSOR to the expanded and enlarged cell membrane, and VSOR returns the cell to its original size by releasing more ions inside the cell.That is, it was clarified that TRPM7 is an essential sensor protein for keeping the cell size constant, and that TRPM7 and VSOR cooperate to make the swollen cells smaller.
Studies related to cell size and swelling have shown that swelling (growth) of cells in breast cancer worsens cancer, and that cells that grow due to obesity cause lifestyle-related diseases such as hypertension and arteriosclerosis. Be done.The results of this research are expected to contribute to the elucidation of the pathophysiology of breast cancer, the development of treatment methods, and the prevention and elimination of obesity.
Paper information:[Communications Biology] TRPM7 is an essential regulator for volume-sensitive outwardly rectifying anion channel
