Cannibalism is a double blow to cellular health

Some inflammatory and infectious diseases, such as hardening of the arteries and tuberculosis, are caused by the accumulation in immune cells of harmful substances such as cholesterol and bacteria. A study published today by Hugh Ford, a researcher at the University of Sydney, has shown that these concentrations are due in part to cellular cannibalism.

Posted in Acts of the Royal Society BDr. Ford's research shows that substances transferred through cannibalism are concentrated in the population through a process of coalescence, in which the particles continually aggregate into larger aggregates.

"Cellular cannibalism has been an underestimated dynamic in the development of inflammatory diseases," he said.

Mr. Ford is embarking on his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at the University of Sydney and explains that his model, though applied in this case to cell accumulation, has broader implications.

"Our mathematical model shows that cannibalism has similar negative consequences in cells and animals," Ford said. "As with environmental ecosystems, cannibalism can transfer harmful substances between individual cells – or animals – and perpetuate the transmission of disease."

Dr. Ford, in collaboration with colleagues from Oxford University, experimentally tested his model using macrophages from bone marrow-derived mice (white blood cells) and the how they form "foamy cells" at the base of the arterial plaque in atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries.

Her supervisor is Professor Mary Myerscough of the Faculty of Mathematics and Statistics, who works in association with Professor Helen Byrne of the Mathematical Institute of Oxford. Professor Myerscough said: "Hugh's research has shown that cannibal cells have a" double whammy "for the formation of harmful substances in the body.

"In the case of atherosclerosis, white blood cells that remove cholesterol die, leaving LDL cholesterol in place while adding their own cellular cholesterol."

Professor Myerscough said that it resulted in sending more white blood cells to clean up the mess, which would die, causing an exponential build-up.

The problem worsens when the normal processes that cause white blood cells to leave the tissue slow down or fail. Normally, these white blood cells, or macrophages, carry dead materials into the lymphatic system. When this process failed, Ford developed a model showing that cellular cannibalism contributes to the concentration of harmful substances in a cascading effect.

Professor Myerscough stated that Mr. Ford's study quantitatively considered the emigration of cells and clearly emphasized this process.

Mr. Ford conducted his research at the Institute of Mathematics at Oxford University and at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology.

Professor David Greaves, principal investigator at the Dunn School of Pathology in Oxford, said: "Hugh's mathematical modeling has allowed us to carry out a set of biology experiments that shed new light on the processes responsible for new drugs that improve the protection of tissues by modifying the behavior of cells ".

Ford said the document contributed to the growing evidence that the elimination of cannibal cells was a double-edged sword.

"While this process is crucial for tissue stability and the resolution of inflammation, it also perpetuates the subcellular accumulation of harmful substances that can subsequently contribute to the development of diseases such as heart disease and tuberculosis," he said. said Mr. Ford.