Ghostly metabolic messages from dying cells

Green, Douglas R.

doi:10.1038/d41586-020-00641-0

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18 March 2020

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.

Douglas R. Green ⁰

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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