Cells ‘vomit’ waste to speed up healing in our body

When our bodies get injured, cells spring into action. They clean up the mess, patch the damage, and sometimes even hit the reset button.

Scientists have known for a long time that cells can self-destruct or revert to a younger, more flexible state to repair tissue. But now researchers have uncovered something new – an unexpected shortcut these repair systems use when they’re in a hurry.

This shortcut might help damaged cells bounce back faster, but it’s not without risk. It’s messy, and that mess could be part of what makes chronic injuries more dangerous over time, even raising the odds of cancer.

Cells take shortcuts to heal injury

Inside every mature cell is a complex setup of parts that keep it running like a factory. But when injury hits – especially in places like the stomach – that factory setup gets in the way of repair.

Normally, cells clear out old parts through a slow, careful breakdown process using structures called lysosomes. This controlled cleanup helps prepare the cell to transform into a stem cell-like version of itself, ready to rebuild tissue.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Baylor College of Medicine found that in injured stomach cells, something else was going on. The affected areas weren’t just cleaning house quietly. They were dumping waste out of the cell entirely, fast and all at once.

The experts have named this process cathartocytosis, which means “cellular cleansing” in Greek. But instead of a deep clean, it’s more like a sudden purge.

A vomit response in cells

The scientists noticed piles of debris outside of injured stomach cells. At first, they thought it was just junk from the surrounding environment. But they kept seeing it – and always at the same time the cells were reprogramming themselves for repair.

“In these gastric cells, paligenosis – reversion to a stem cell state for healing – is a risky process, especially now that we’ve identified the potentially inflammatory downsizing of cathartocytosis within it,” said Dr. Jason C. Mills, who led the study.

Paligenosis is the name for the healing process where mature cells turn back into stem-cell-like versions of themselves. It helps damaged tissues regenerate.

Until now, scientists thought this involved only quiet, inside-the-cell cleanup. But cathartocytosis adds a new layer to that: big chunks of cellular machinery get thrown out all at once to speed up the transformation.

“After an injury, the cell’s job is to repair that injury. But the cell’s mature cellular machinery for doing its normal job gets in the way,” said study first author Dr. Jeffrey W. Brown.

“So, this cellular cleanse is a quick way of getting rid of that machinery so it can rapidly become a small, primitive cell capable of proliferating and repairing the injury.”

Faster healing with higher risk

Cathartocytosis speeds up the healing process by helping cells ditch the clutter quickly. But speed comes with consequences.

The waste that is ejected doesn’t just disappear. It builds up, and that buildup can trigger inflammation – especially if the injury keeps happening again and again.

“If many older mutated cells revert to stem cell states in an effort to repair an injury – and injuries also often fuel inflammation, such as during an infection – there’s an increased risk of acquiring, perpetuating and expanding harmful mutations that lead to cancer as those stem cells multiply,” said Dr. Mills.

Potential for early cancer detection

The research team believes that cathartocytosis might be useful not just for understanding how injuries heal – or don’t – but also for catching early signs of trouble.

Dr. Brown and collaborator Dr. Koushik K. Das have created an antibody that can bind to parts of the ejected waste. That could make it possible to detect when a lot of cathartocytosis is happening, maybe even before cancer shows up.

“If we have a better understanding of this process, we could develop ways to help encourage the healing response and perhaps, in the context of chronic injury, block the damaged cells undergoing chronic cathartocytosis from contributing to cancer formation,” said Dr. Brown.

Cells healing the body

This study focused on the stomach, using a mouse model of injury. But the scientists think cathartocytosis may be happening in other organs, too.

The research opens the door to exploring how this fast purge response plays a role in other diseases, and whether it could become a target for future treatments.

The experts are especially interested in how it connects to Helicobacter pylori infections, which damage the stomach lining, cause ulcers, and are known to raise the risk of stomach cancer.

If cathartocytosis turns out to be part of the reason chronic inflammation leads to cancer, stopping it – or at least keeping it in check – could change how these conditions are treated.

For now, cathartocytosis gives scientists a new way to think about how cells respond to injury. It’s fast, it’s messy, and it might be both a hero and a villain in the body’s efforts to heal.

The full study was published in the journal Cell Reports.

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