How the body removes debris from cells during stress

The study was conducted by a team led by biology professor Piya Ghos, and it involved graduate students Aladin Elkhalil and Alec Whiteed. They did not work on humans, but on a tiny transparent worm, C. elegans. This small organism has long served science: through its transparent body, you can literally watch how cells live, die, and purify themselves.

The researchers paid special attention to the genes that are usually turned on during stress. Previously, it was believed that they simply help the body cope with threats. But a new discovery has shown that they control the process of removing dead cells when the situation goes beyond the norm.

Using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, the team changed the work of some stress genes and saw that there is a special pathway that is activated to cleanse the body of dead cells. It’s not just self—defense, it’s a real emergency mode of operation.

One of the main characters of the discovery is a gene whose human counterpart is called lyst. His mutations are associated with a rare but serious disease, Chediaka—Higashi syndrome, in which cells cannot cope with the removal of intracellular “debris.” It turns out that this gene is controlled by stress signals.

“We have yet to understand exactly why this pathway is triggered and why the body needs this backup plan at all,” says Aladin Elkhalil. But it is already clear that understanding such processes can lead to new approaches in the treatment of diseases of the immune system and metabolic disorders.

In an environment where modern life rarely allows the body to relax, knowing how cells clean up after themselves, even under stress, is a chance to learn how to help the body carefully cope with stress.