Immune cells unexpectedly turn out to be a crucial component of the body's endurance. A new study by a team from Tsinghua University has shown that without B cells, muscles are less able to cope with stress, and the body's energy metabolism is restructured, reducing endurance, reports Nature.
Experiments have established that B cells are directly involved in maintaining physical endurance: in mice, their absence led to a significant reduction in the ability to perform prolonged exercise. Furthermore, animals without B cells had impaired metabolism of the amino acid glutamate, which also negatively impacted endurance.
Conversely, when B-cell function was restored, endurance parameters returned to normal. Despite the clear link between immune cells and muscle regulation, scientists are reluctant to oversimplify the role of B-cells in this multifaceted mechanism.
"The discovery that B cells can be important mediators between the immune system and organs involved in exercise is a major conceptual breakthrough," the authors stated. They now intend to thoroughly evaluate the functioning of these processes and their mutual influence in order to find new targets for combating serious diseases such as sarcopenia.
Previously, other scientists used CRISPR technology to transform immune cell precursors into drug factories. Their experiments demonstrated that genetic editing can reprogram cells to produce therapeutic molecules directly within the body.
