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Scientists find new hope for beating cancer in the yeast used to brew your favorite beer
In the 2024 twist that you never saw coming, scientists from the University of Virginia have found new hope for cancer treatments in the humble yeast used to brew your favorite beer.
Few health conditions have received as much attention as cancer, with new research constantly being published that suggests everything from climbing stairs as a treatment to cutting down on alcohol and deli meats to prevent it.
Scientists find game-changing discovery in your bottle of beer
Despite the scientific community’s warning against alcohol, the very thing known to cause cancer could also be the saving grace we’ve been praying for.
University of Virginia’s School of Medicine, working with researchers at EMBL in Germany, stumbled upon the hope when working with Schizosaccharomyces pombe, a common brewing yeast that goes into dormancy when in nutrient short environments. It turns out cancer cells do the exact same thing when trying to survive in such environments.
Cells can take a break when things get tough by going into deep sleep in order to stay alive, then at a later point they seemingly just come back. Thats why we need to understand the basics of adaptation to starvation and how these cells become dormant to stay alive and avoid death, said Dr. Ahmad Jomaa, a researcher from UVAs Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics.
While S. pombe has been used in beer brewing for decades, it also serves as a scientific tool thanks to its shocking similarities with human cells.
Using a fancy piece of equipment known as cryo-electron microscopy and tomography, Dr. Ahmad Jomaa and his team noticed how S. pombe protects its mitochondria using a protective blanket made from ribosomes, which are usually used for producing proteins.
Graduate student Maciej Gluc added: We knew that cells will try to save energy and shut down their ribosomes, but we were not expecting them to attach in an up-side state on the mitochondria.”
The discovery could provide further treatment options for cancer
There could be different explanations. A starved cell will eventually start digesting itself, so the ribosomes might be coating the mitochondria to protect them. They might also attach to trigger a signaling cascade inside the mitochondria, suggested Dr. Simone Mattei.
Though S. pombe won’t directly be solving the world’s cancer crisis, understanding why and how it protects itself could be applied to cancer.
Similar to the yeast, when cancer cells go into dormancy they are undetectable to screening, our immune system, and resistant to treatments. As such, understanding S. pombe could provide better options for cancer treatment.
These cells are not easily detected in diagnostic settings, Jomaa added. But we are hopeful that our research will generate more interest in helping us reach our goal.
The scientific teams are now hoping to wake up dormant cells whilst also applying their new knowledge to cultured cancer cells.
You can read the full study in the Nature Communications journal.
