Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 3 pp 3239—3253
Uncovering molecular mechanisms of regulated cell death in the naked mole rat
- 1 Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
- 2 Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
- 3 Translational Inflammation Research, Medical Faculty, Center of Dynamic Systems, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg 39106, Germany
Received: March 22, 2020 Accepted: December 14, 2020 Published: January 28, 2021
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.202577How to Cite
Copyright: © 2021 Evdokimov et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
The naked mole rat (NMR), Heterocephalus glaber, is the longest-living rodent species, and is extraordinarily resistant to cancer and aging-related diseases. The molecular basis for these unique phenotypic traits of the NMR is under extensive research. However, the role of regulated cell death (RCD) in the longevity and the protection from cancer in the NMR is still largely unknown. RCD is a mechanism restricting the proliferation of damaged or premalignant cells, which counteracts aging and oncotransformation. In this study, DNA damage-induced cell death in NMR fibroblasts was investigated in comparison to RCD in fibroblasts from Mus musculus. The effects of methyl methanesulfonate, 5-fluorouracil, and etoposide in both cell types were examined using contemporary cell death analyses. Skin fibroblasts from Heterocephalus glaber were found to be more resistant to the action of DNA damaging agents compared to fibroblasts from Mus musculus. Strikingly, our results revealed that NMR cells also exhibit a limited apoptotic response and seem to undergo regulated necrosis. Taken together, this study provides new insights into the mechanisms of cell death in NMR expanding our understanding of longevity, and it paves the way towards the development of innovative therapeutic approaches.