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So when you hear the word “leprosy”, your brain may or may not
conjure up an accurate picture of Hansen’s disease:
a bacterial infection that causes skin lesions and nerve damage.
Though you might correctly recall the enormous
social stigma that persists against people who are infected.
Either way, your mind probably doesn’t come up with any advantages.
Like why would it?
Well, according to some scientists, studying the bacteria
that cause Hansen’s disease could provide incredible benefits to liver research…
all thanks to one funky little mammal.
Hansen’s disease is an infectious disease caused by a bacterium
called Mycobacterium leprae, or ML for short.
In humans, these bacteria infect Schwann cells, which are cells that protect the
peripheral nervous system; that is, the parts outside your brain and spinal cord.
Schwann cells provide insulation for the long axons of nerve cells.
Some of them form the myelin sheath, which helps to
transmit electrical impulses that carry messages between nerve cells.
When nerve cells are damaged from an injury or infection,
Schwann cells receive signals to revert to a relatively immature state.
That reversion is called de-differentiation.
As cells mature, they tend to split off into
more specialized states; they differentiate.
When that specialization gets put in reverse, that’s de-differentiation.
The cells become less mature and less specialized.
Under typical circumstances, these de-differentiated Schwann cells
help axons regenerate, and that allows the
peripheral nervous system to recover from illness or injury.
And at the end of the nerve repair process,
the Schwann cells grow back up into their differentiated states.
And when a person contracts Hansen’s disease,
the ML bacteria use this system to their benefit.
ML bacteria reprogram Schwann cells not just into an immature,
de-differentiated state, but even further into something resembling a stem cell.
Stem cells can differentiate into lots of different types of cells,
but that’s sort of all that they do.
A Schwann cell that’s de-differentiated this far
isn’t good at being a Schwann cell any more.
The de-differentiation process in cells infected with ML bacteria
causes damage to axons by breaking down the myelin sheath.
Cells without the physical barrier of myelin are much easier for the bacteria
to invade, so this helps the bacteria evade the immune system.
The result is chaos for those nerves that needed that regenerative system.
Without nerves that have the ability to heal themselves,
nerve damage in people with Hansen’s disease can lead to loss of feeling
or sensation, muscle weakness, and sometimes even blindness.
Strangely enough, however, there is a scenario where ML infection has the nearly
the opposite effect, promoting regeneration in a very different kind of tissue.
Liver tissue.
The liver tissue… of nine-banded armadillos.
ML infects not just humans, but also some armadillos,
native to North and South America.
A 2022 study from researchers at the University of Edinburgh
has shown that nine-banded armadillos infected with the ML bacteria
grow bigger livers that are healthy and functional in all respects.
And it’s kind of similar to what the bacteria are doing in human nerve cells:
borrowing the host’s regenerative processes for their own ends.
In armadillos that carry ML bacteria, the bacteria increase the expression of genes
that code for proteins that are typically associated with growth,
wound-healing, and increased metabolic responses in the liver.
Even more fascinating, these are very similar to genes and proteins that are
expressed in human liver cells during fetal development and adult growth.
This de-differentiation that ML causes in armadillo livers is temporary, allowing the
cells to proliferate and then re-differentiate into healthy specialized liver cells.
This is less damaging than the de-differentiation that ML causes in
human nerve cells, where their reversion to a stem-cell like state
trashes their ability to heal themselves since they cannot re-differentiate.
Which shows how very similar effects at the cellular level can
lead to wildly different effects in different tissues and different organisms.
Now, tissue regeneration is an active area of study for a couple of reasons.
In humans, we want to keep organs healthy as people age,
and we want to understand how to heal damaged tissue
without cells growing out of control and becoming cancerous.
Scientists can revert mature cells to a more stem cell-like state in rodent models.
But… those cells tend to become cancerous.
Which makes that method no good for healing damaged organs
in humans without some serious further study.
Well, guess what armadillos infected with ML bacteria DON’T have?
They don’t have liver cancer!
The researchers did not find any masses, tumors,
or other tissue abnormalities in any of the infected armadillos.
And the ML bacteria’s little reprogramming act has
little effect on genes that encourage tumor growth.
This reprogramming is likely beneficial to the bacteria themselves,
because by causing cell proliferation and increased liver size,
the bacteria get a nicer, more nutrient-packed habitat.
The bacteria also protect themselves by keeping the host healthy,
so it’s in their interest to not cause any real harm to the host’s liver.
And this isn’t just, like, ok, well very lucky for armadillos I guess,
because the researchers in the study think this makes armadillos a great way
to study how liver tissue regenerates and apply that knowledge to humans.
Liver disease causes millions of deaths around the world every year.
The human liver is typically able to heal itself when needed.
But that can be impaired in cases like liver failure or cirrhosis.
The researchers are hopeful that using armadillos as a model of liver regeneration
could help us develop tools to heal damaged livers in humans,
or maybe even grow brand new livers to order when a transplant is needed.
Which is a pretty unexpected upside to one of the most hated diseases
in human history interacting with one of my favorite little animals.
I’d like to think that it could even help break down some stigma
against people living with Hansen’s.
Sometimes, nature creates silver linings in the oddest of places.
Researchers can find solutions in strange places
when they look at problems from new angles.
Sometimes it’s a matter of understanding the variables you’re working with.
Sometimes you need to work backwards to find a solution.
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