March 28, 2024

Tremendous Potential – Vitamin K Found To Prevent Cell Death

The discovery also recommends that vitamin K treatment may be an efficient method to treat ferroptosis-related diseases.
Scientists discover a new function for a long-known particle..
A team of researchers from Helmholtz Munich has actually discovered a brand-new function for vitamin K, which is usually known for its function in blood clot. The researchers found that vitamin K in its completely minimized kind functions as an antioxidant by effectively preventing ferroptotic cell death. Ferroptosis is a natural kind of cell death in which cellular iron plays a significant role and is characterized by the oxidative breakdown of cellular membranes. In addition, the researchers determined FSP1 as the warfarin-insensitive enzyme reducing vitamin K, the identity of which had been hypothesized but remained unidentified for more than a half-century.
In recent years, ferroptosis has actually been linked to a number of diseases, including Alzheimers disease and acute organ damage.-” cells passing away by ferroptosis “+” vitamin K efficiently prevents ferroptosis.
Vitamin K is a powerful ferroptosis suppressor.
Given that ferroptosis avoidance is considered a highly promising approach for the treatment of lots of degenerative diseases, new systems and substances controling ferroptosis are thoroughly being checked out. To determine these brand-new molecules, a team of scientists led by Dr. Eikan Mishima and Dr. Marcus Conrad, both from the Institute of Metabolism and Cell Death at Helmholtz Munich, in addition to collaborators from Tohoku University (Japan), University of Ottawa (Canada) and Technical University of Dresden (Germany), systematically studied a number of naturally occurring vitamins, in addition to their derivatives.

-” cells passing away by ferroptosis “+” vitamin K efficiently avoids ferroptosis. Unraveling the identity of this enzyme resolved the last riddle of vitamin K metabolism in blood clotting and illuminated the molecular mechanism of why vitamin K makes up the remedy for overdosing on warfarin. “Our outcomes, for that reason, connect the 2 worlds of ferroptosis research and vitamin K biology. In addition, considering that ferroptosis most likely makes up one of the oldest types of cell death, the scientists hypothesize that vitamin K might be one of the most ancient types of naturally happening anti-oxidants. “Thus, new aspects of the function of vitamin K throughout the development of life are anticipated to be revealed” Dr. Marcus Conrad discussed.

Dr. Marcus Conrad, Director, Institute of Metabolism and Cell Death at Helmholtz Munich Dr. Eikan Mishima, Senior Scientist, Institute of Metabolism and Cell Death at Helmholtz Munich. Credit: Helmholtz Munich (c) Bettina Proneth.
” Surprisingly, we recognized that vitamin K, including phylloquinone (vitamin K1) and menaquinone-4 (vitamin K2), is able to effectively rescue cells and tissues from going through ferroptosis” Dr. Eikan Mishima, first author of the study explained.
Unraveling the long desired vitamin K lowering enzyme FSP1.
In 2019 a group of researchers around Dr. Marcus Conrad currently determined an enzyme as a strong and unique inhibitor of ferroptosis: ferroptosis suppressor protein-1, brief FSP1. The researchers have now found that the entirely reduced kind of vitamin K (vitamin K hydroquinone) is a powerful lipophilic anti-oxidant that reduces ferroptosis by trapping oxygen radicals in lipid bilayers.
They found that FSP1 is the enzyme that successfully transforms vitamin K to vitamin K hydroquinone, resulting in a brand-new non-canonical vitamin K cycle. Due to the fact that vitamin K is essential in blood clot, the researchers even more figured out that FSP1 is responsible for a vitamin K-reduction pathway that is resistant to warfarin, among the most frequently used anticoagulants.
Development in understanding vitamin K metabolism.
Unraveling the identity of this enzyme fixed the last riddle of vitamin K metabolic process in blood clotting and clarified the molecular system of why vitamin K makes up the antidote for overdosing on warfarin. In addition, given that ferroptosis most likely constitutes one of the earliest types of cell death, the scientists assume that vitamin K may be one of the most ancient types of naturally happening antioxidants.
Referral: “A non-canonical vitamin K cycle is a powerful ferroptosis suppressor” by Eikan Mishima, Junya Ito, Zijun Wu, Toshitaka Nakamura, Adam Wahida, Sebastian Doll, Wulf Tonnus, Palina Nepachalovich, Elke Eggenhofer, Maceler Aldrovandi, Bernhard Henkelmann, Ken-ichi Yamada, Jonas Wanninger, Omkar Zilka, Emiko Sato, Regina Feederle, Daniela Hass, Adriano Maida, André Santos Dias Mourão, Andreas Linkermann, Edward K. Geissler, Kiyotaka Nakagawa, Takaaki Abe, Maria Fedorova, Bettina Proneth, Derek A. Pratt, and Marcus Conrad, 3 August 2022, Nature.DOI: 10.1038/ s41586-022-05022-3.