In a discovery that can reshape our understanding of aging and blood diseases, Japanese researchers have discovered how a family of natural antioxidant proteins can help maintain a delicate balance of our blood system throughout our lives. The findings, published in the journal Blood, point to potential new strategies to address age-related decline in blood and immune system function.
The research team at Osaka University focuses on selenoprotein, a group of 25 different enzymes that help protect cells from oxidative damage. Their work reveals that these proteins play an unexpected and crucial role in maintaining healthy blood stem cells and immune system development, especially in antibody-producing B cells.
“We have observed that aging HSCs often exhibit impaired selenoid protein synthesis, but it is unclear whether this may lead to cellular senescence and whether it can be reversed,” said Yumi Aoyama, co-leader of the Osaka University study.
This study provides new insights on why blood stem cells become less effective as they age. When selenoid protein production in mice is interrupted, their blood stem cells show limited self-renewal capabilities, a key feature of aging. This effect is particularly evident in B cells, an important type of immune cell, while other immune cells called myeloid cells are largely unaffected.
This selective effect on different cell types provides important clues about how aging affects the blood and immune system. The team found that without proper selenoprotein function, a dangerous molecule called lipid peroxide, began to accumulate in certain cell types, resulting in cell damage consistent with aging.
“The most significant results of knockout include B lymphopenia, which means there are fewer B cells than expected,” explains Hiromi Yamazaki, another co-leader of the study. This finding reflects many age-related What happens in related blood diseases.
It means more than just understanding the age of blood cells. A team led by senior author Daichi Inoue found that vitamin E in the diet can help protect blood cell production and repair barriers to damaged B cells in their experimental models. This suggests that potential dietary interventions can help maintain a healthy blood and immune system as you age.
“Our data suggests a clear lineage-specific effect when selenoprotein protection is lost,” Inoue said. “These enzymes are critical to counteracting the lipid peroxides accumulated during aging.”
These findings are particularly important given the growing global aging population and the growing interest in interventions that can sustain health in the future. By understanding how selenoprotein protects specific blood cell types, researchers may be able to develop targeted treatments for age-related blood and immune diseases.
The study also showed unexpected flexibility in hemorrhagic cell development—when selenoprotein production was interrupted, some developing B cells showed signs of switching to myeloid cells. This plasticity in cell fate may have important implications for understanding normal aging and blood diseases.
As the research continues, the team’s discovery opens new avenues to study how dietary factors and cellular antioxidant systems can be used to maintain healthy blood and immune function. The study shows that maintaining proper selenoprotein function may be an important factor in preventing or treating age-related decline in hematologic system function.
The complete discovery is available in the journal Blood, titled “Selenoprotein-mediated redox regulation shapes the cell fate of HSCs and mature lineages.”
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