Cincinnati: Science is now beginning to believe that specific light has positive effects on cells and body organs. In recent research, scientists at the University of Cincinnati have proven that light can cure certain diseases, including cancer.
Jamia, in collaboration with the University of Illinois and the University of Buffalo, has demonstrated that light-activated proteins can act inside cells to restore them to normal. Central importance in research has been given to mitochondria, also called the powerhouse of the cell, which also performs other functions.
PhD student Jia Ji Diao and colleagues demonstrated that the natural process of fusion and fission of hundreds of mitochondria in a healthy cell is essential to balance, and when this balance is disrupted, cancer can develop. A variety of diseases develop, other diseases include neurological defects such as dementia.
But Jia Ji was the first to demonstrate that inside cells there is a natural scissor called ‘lysosome’ that cuts mitochondria and divides them into smaller parts (fission). In the next step, to further improve the fission process, cytosomes and mitochondria were manipulated together using light, a process called optogenetics in medical parlance.
According to scientists, many proteins are activated in light and this process can be seen in plants. In the same context, another scientist, Dr. Kai Zheng, has created a sensitive device that shines light on the protein surface. It controls lysosomes and mitochondria with blue light. In the next step, the protein was cleaved from the mitochondria and the desired process was carried out by illuminating it.
For further research, scientists attached two different proteins to mitochondria and lysosomes in stem cells. When exposed to blue light, the two proteins fused together into a new protein that also contacted lysosomes and mitochondria. Thus the lysosome starts to break or cut the mitochondria.
Thus the mitochondria returned to the original state and began to function properly. Some of the affected cells even returned to their original and healthy state. This technology could be extremely useful for patients whose cells have abnormally enlarged mitochondria and need to be shortened. Thus it can be treated with light.
