Now I know the two seem completely unrelated but I was reading an article recently which got me thinking. The article can be found on the University of California page which I will provide the link for at the bottom. The piece was about how fasting for short periods of time could lead to stem cell regeneration. First I’d like to give my feedback on the article and then I am going to provide my own opinion on how this finding could impact other conditions, particularly autoimmune. let’s start off with the article.
In the journal Cell Stem Cell, researcher published a pretty amazing finding. They asserted that fasting mice (between 2 to 4 days) have added protection against immune system damage as well as provide for immune system regeneration. This finding is not only relevant in mice but can also be seen in human trials. Individuals receiving chemotherapy – which has a side effect of immune system damage – showed that not eating for prolonged periods lowered their white blood cell count. What’s more is that in fasting mice there was a “regenerative switch” that was flipped for the hematopoietic stem cells.
Valter Longo, one of the authors of the study, said to USC officials that “When you starve, the system tries to save energy, and one of the things it can do to save energy is to recycle a lot of the immune cells that are not needed, especially those that may be damaged,” He continued by adding “What we started noticing in both our human work and animal work is that the white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting. Then when you re-feed, the blood cells come back. So we started thinking, well, where does it come from?”
Where DOES it come from ?
Fasting has so many impacts on the body including breakdown of glucose, fats, ketones, white blood cells, and an increase in adrenaline. Just as a side note, of the interesting things I learned in my mammalian physiology class I believe was that long periods of fasting could cause ketosis (increased ketone concentration in the serum) which gives off a fruit like smell in some patients breaths. In fact, as I write this article I am fasting because it is prescribed for me in my religion (Islam). Back to the study. The researchers found that fasting, along with all the effects I previously stated, decreased the level of the enzyme PKA (protein kinase), and IGF-1 (growth factor). Both of which I’m sure you have heard about if you’re a biology major or have taken Professor Ersters class on cancer biology. The point here is that the PKA gene needs to shut down in order for the stem cells to enter into their regenerative mode. Once that’s done, stem cells begin to rebuild and regenerate their colony.
The article and the study limited their implications to chemotherapy and other age related conditions but I have another possible avenue of study. This is where my speculation begins.
Autoimmune conditions and fasting
We all know about autoimmune conditions but if you don’t let me just give you a quick summary. These conditions happen when the immune cells of your body don’t recognize it’s own cells. They begin to assume that the body is a threat to itself and begin attacking without regard, the most common autoimmune condition being diabetes. My thought was that since it has been shown that fasting can lead to immune system regeneration in humans, could it possibly be used in treatment of these autoimmune problems. Or at the bare minimum there has to be some sort of mechanism connecting the two. If that is the case, who knows there might just be a nobel prize for someone. Let me know what you guys think or have any ideas furthering my assumption.
Sources:
Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system
http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(14)00151-9