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Ghostly metabolic messages from dying cells

Cell death by a process called apoptosis inhibits inflammation in surrounding tissue. The finding that dying apoptotic cells release a tailored cocktail of metabolite molecules reveals a way in which they influence their living neighbours.
  1. Douglas R. Green

    1. Douglas R. Green is in the Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, USA.

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“Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.” The iconic opening lines of Charles Dickens’s novel A Christmas Carol convey the idea of the finality of death, a concept that pervades our thinking even when considering the demise of cells. A dead cell is, to echo Dickens’s description of Marley, “as dead as a doornail”. But just as Marley had an influence from beyond the grave to change the character of Ebenezer Scrooge in the story, cells that die can have a vital effect on the living cells around them. Writing in Nature, Medina et al.1 bring this process to life by uncovering metabolic processes in dying cells that have important consequences for the organism.

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Nature 580, 36-37 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00641-0

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Competing Interests

The author is a consultant for Inzen Pharmaceuticals and is on the scientific advisory board of Ventus Therapeutics.

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