[HN Gopher] Immune cells acquire genomic scars in a lifetime def...
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       Immune cells acquire genomic scars in a lifetime defending against
       infection
        
       Author : PaulHoule
       Score  : 38 points
       Date   : 2022-08-11 14:25 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (medicalxpress.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (medicalxpress.com)
        
       | TheChaplain wrote:
       | I remember I read something about fasting for >48h have an impact
       | on your immune system (some call it reset?) where cells are
       | replaced.
       | 
       | Could that have a positive impact on damaged cell genomics?
        
         | mgsouth wrote:
         | Cells are, of course, replaced all the time [0]. For example,
         | certain white blood cells every 2-5 days. In general metabolic
         | processes _slow down_ when fasting.
         | 
         | Immune cell replacement doesn't reset your immune system; that
         | would be a very bad thing, no? You'd suddenly lose all
         | resistance to everything you'd been exposed to or vaccinated
         | against.
         | 
         | A quick internet search shows a PR piece from USC, "Fasting
         | triggers stem cell regeneration" [1]. I'm not impressed. The
         | article says "it is the first evidence of a natural
         | intervention triggering stem cell-based regeneration of an
         | organ or system," implying no previous study has ever shown
         | such an effect, and it certainly isn't generally accepted as a
         | biomedical effect. I don't know if the study results have been
         | replicated.
         | 
         | What the study's actual data said was "long periods of not
         | eating significantly lowered white blood cell counts," which in
         | mice was followed by a rebound when fasting ending. The
         | researcher's _interpretation_ was that he  "likens the effect
         | to lightening a plane of excess cargo." [Yeah! Let's
         | temporarily get rid all those pesky unneeded white blood
         | cells!] So _my_ interpretation is that the white blood cells
         | died off after a few days, as normal, and fasting interfered
         | with their replacement. Fasting stopped, and replacement
         | recommenced.
         | 
         | I don't really get the popularity of quackish theories about
         | fasting, "cleanses," etc. There's already a perfectly good
         | regeneration system--it's called sleep. I guess it's like weird
         | ideas about "oxygen-free copper" and such in audio circles.
         | It's something to tweak, feeling like you're going above-and-
         | beyond, but without actually being too difficult.
         | 
         | [0] http://book.bionumbers.org/how-quickly-do-different-cells-
         | in...
         | 
         | [1] https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-cell-
         | regene...
        
         | chasil wrote:
         | Fasting triggers autophagy, which can remove toxins and other
         | harmful debris.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autophagy
        
       | chasil wrote:
       | I wonder if transposon activation plays a role in these
       | mutations.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposable_element
        
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       (page generated 2022-08-12 23:01 UTC)