Apoptosis
Episodes
Dr. Valter Longo describes how prolonged fasting and subsequent refeeding, sends signals to the body to systematically shrink and rebuild organ systems.
Dr. Valter Longo on Resetting Autoimmunity and Rejuvenating Systems with Prolonged Fasting & the FMD
Dr. Valter Longo discusses fasting as a means to treat or prevent age-related diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and others.
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Dr. Valter Longo describes how prolonged fasting and subsequent refeeding, sends signals to the body to systematically shrink and rebuild organ systems.
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Dr. Valter Longo on Resetting Autoimmunity and Rejuvenating Systems with Prolonged Fasting & the FMDFasting Cancer Obesity Aging Heart Disease Diabetes Insulin Resistance Inflammation Stem Cells Immune System Tissue Repair Autophagy Apoptosis Insulin AutoimmunityDr. Valter Longo discusses fasting as a means to treat or prevent age-related diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and others.
Topic Pages
News & Publications
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Estradiol may act as a regulator of muscle energy metabolism and muscle cell viability: loss of estrogen in menopause may promote sarcopenia www.sciencedaily.com
From the article:
The effects of estrogen on skeletal muscles are not yet well known. The study from the University of Jyväskylä discovered that estrogen acts as an upstream regulator for the energy metabolism and viability of muscle cells.
[…]
“These findings help to understand why menopausal women’s muscles get smaller and their muscle strength diminishes,” Dr. Laakkonen explains. Skeletal muscle is important for whole-body metabolism. Therefore, these results are important when fighting against the elevated risk of metabolic diseases associated to aging.
In total 24 pre- and postmenopausal women participated in this muscle research on middle-aged women.
From the publication:
The major canonical pathways found to be differentially regulated included mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative phosphorylation, glycolysis, and TCA-cycle, strong indicators for affected energy metabolism. The major biological processes predicted to be affected were related to cell death, apoptosis, and cell survival, as well as contractility of the muscle and glycolysis. Furthermore, E2 [17β-estradiol] was predicted to be an upstream regulator of these processes, which we confirmed by exposing myotubes to E2 in vitro.
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Elevated testosterone induces apoptosis in neuronal cells, cell study suggests. (2006) www.sciencedaily.com
From the article:
The researchers showed that high levels of testosterone triggered programmed cell death in nerve cells in culture. Cell death, or apoptosis, is critical in many life processes, including development and disease. It is characterized by membrane instability, activation of caspases, which are the executioner proteins in apoptosis, change in membrane potential, and DNA fragmentation.
“In the present study we have demonstrated for the first time that the treatment of neuroblastoma cells with elevated concentrations of testosterone for relatively short periods, six to 12 hours, induces a decrease in cell viability by activation of a cell death program,” Ehrlich said. “Low concentrations of testosterone had no effects on cell viability, whereas at high concentrations the cell viability decreased with incremental increases in hormone concentration.”
The testosterone-induced apoptosis described in this study occurs through overactivation of intracellular Ca2+ signaling pathways. Overstimulation of the apoptotic program in neurons has been associated with several neurological illnesses, such as Alzheimer disease and Huntington disease.
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Broccoli sprout extract may promote tumor-infiltration of immune cells and drive cell death in breast cancer. onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Nearly four million women living in the United States have a history of breast cancer. Evidence suggests that dietary interventions improve breast cancer outcomes and enhance survival. Findings from a recent study indicate that consumption of an isothiocyanate-rich broccoli sprout extract may improve outcomes in women with breast cancer.
Isothiocyanates are byproducts of a reaction between compounds present in cruciferous vegetables. Isothiocyanates inhibit the activity of enzymes that transform procarcinogens into carcinogens. One of the most studied isothiocyanates is sulforaphane, which is derived from broccoli and is particularly abundant in broccoli sprouts.
The study involved 30 women (average age, 61 years) who were about to undergo surgery to remove breast cancer tumors. The investigators randomly assigned half of the women to receive 200 micromoles of isothiocyanates from a broccoli sprout extract every day for two weeks prior to their surgery. (This daily dose of broccoli sprout extract is roughly equivalent to that provided in 500 grams – a little more than one pound – of fresh broccoli.) The remaining half of the women received a placebo. The investigators measured isothiocyanate metabolites and cytoprotective proteins in the women’s urine and biomarkers of anticancer activity in the excised tumor tissue.
They identified multiple proteins in the participants' urine that indicated increased activity of cytoprotective pathways, including the Nrf2-mediated oxidative response pathway. They also observed changes in biomarkers of anticancer activity, including a trend toward increased levels of proteins that regulate programmed cell death and immune cells that recognize and kill cancer cells, as well as a trend toward decreased levels of proteins involved in proliferation. These changes were not statistically significant, however.
These findings indicate that consumption of an isothiocyanate-rich broccoli sprout extract may improve outcomes in women with breast cancer. The authors posited that the absence of statistically significant findings was likely due to their small sample size and suggested further study with a larger sample.