Gray hair may indicate that the body is being protected from cancer: Stem Cells play a protective role

Gray hair is usually seen as a sign of aging, but a new Japanese study, writes the book ScienceAlert, suggests they may actually be indications that our body is naturally protected from cancer.

A study in mice has shown that the human body has evolved a mechanism to eliminate endangered cells, even if this means the loss of hair color.

The Role of stem cell

Our cells are exposed daily to various environmental factors that can harm DNA. Skin cells are especially sensitive because they act as the first protective line for internal organs. DNA damage can contribute both to cell aging and cancer development.

Although experts still do not fully understand all mechanisms that link DNA damage to physical signs of aging, this study brings interesting new data.

Researchers focused on melanoma, a form of cancer that usually appears in the skin and is born of melanochity, the cells that produce melanin ʹ pigments responsible for skin and hair color. Melanocytes are developed by melanochite stem cells ( McEmpty. SCs, which are in hair molecules where they regularly regenerate skin and hair pigmentation, transmits Telegraph.

Mysteries ' Study

By studying mice, scientists analyzed genes' expression to follow the fate of McSC cells after various DNA damage. In the case of injuries called “double damage to the chain”, where both DNA chains are cut off, the McSC cells were irreversibly different and then disappeared. As a result, the mouse hair was gray.

This process is called “diferencing taught by aging” or aging-deference and based on the activating of the signal route p5321Which regulates the cellular cycle. In this way, the body eliminates cells that can become carcinogenic, even though it causes loss of hair color.

Cancers Can Change Cell Fates

However, exposure to certain carcinogenics caused a different reaction. Rats were exposed to UVB radiation and 7,12-edimitilbenz'a (DMBA), a powerful carcinogenic often used in research to educate tumors. The study showed that McSC cells bypassed the process of differentiation following double fractures, even though they had suffered damage to DNA.

These findings suggest that sometimes, “to know when to stop” can be the key to survival. For McSC cells, pulling and breaking the function in response to DNA damage can be protective even though they lose pigment, the body is protected from skin cancer.

When McSC cells were exposed to UVB or DBBA, they maintained the capacity for self-regeneration and continued to clone. This process is supported by the stem cell factor (FMŚ), a cytokin that leads melanochity to their place in the skin. The FM) also prevents aging, meaning that damaged McSC cells can survive and divide further, increasing the risk of cancer.

The same stem cell population may follow the opposite fates of depletion or spread depending on the type of stress and signals from microambient,” explains lead author Amy Nisimura, biologist at the University of Tokyo.

She adds that this discovery changes the way we understand gray hair and melanoma " “not as separate events, but as different results of stem cell responses to stress. ”

A New Prospect on the Complex Role of Stem Cells

While this does not mean that gray hair protects directly from cancer, researchers point out that grays are the result of a defense process caused by aging that helps the body eliminate potentially dangerous cells. When this process is missing, survival and breeding of damaged McSC cells can increase the risk of melanoma.

The study is published in the prestigious journal Nature Cell Biology and offers a new perspective on the complex role of stem cells in skin and hair health.

According to experts, even stress can affect this process, it increases the likelihood that you will be gray before the age of 30, since a single hormone can cause head skin inflammation.