A bacterial protein stimulates the reproduction of insulin-producing cells, pointing to a potential treatment. Nearly ten years ago, graduate student Jennifer Hampton Hill of the University of Oregon made a fortuitous find: a protein produced by gut bacteria that triggered the division of cells tha
If scientists can figure out how the protein, called BefA, works, they may be able to stimulate beta cell production therapeutically.
Immune development microbiome stimulation helps to appropriately educate the immune system and avoid autoimmune. The research by Guillemin’s team points to another role for the microbiome: Early in development, it stimulates beta cell population growth, acting as a protective buffer against later depletion by autoimmune attack.
BefA can disrupt the membranes of many kinds of cells, both bacterial and animal, they showed. It makes sense that gut bacteria would attack competing bacteria. But unexpectedly, they also found that BefA’s attacks on the membranes of insulin-producing cells triggered those cells to reproduce. “There are other examples in developmental biology were poking holes in membranes is critical in stimulating development,” Hill said, but the researchers don’t yet know exactly how the damage is triggering cell replication here.
Hill was awarded the NOSTER & Science Microbiome Prize this year for her work on BefA. The annual award is given to an early career scientist who has contributed new understanding to microbiome research that could influence human health.
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