3 ms·

I had never heard of this "cell danger response" before, and there's something about your description that does't smell right to this former cell biologist. It

by twic 7y ago

I had never heard of this "cell danger response" before, and there's something about your description that does't smell right to this former cell biologist. It's worth noting that so far, this seems to be a theory being advanced by one scientist: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22cell+danger+response%22 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22cell+danger+res... This is not to say it's not true. But let's be careful here.

ianai 7y ago
Careful? His comment is arguably the best I’ve read on HN this week.
derefr 7y ago
The jargon term is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purinergic_signalling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purinergic_signalling. Personally, I find “Cell Danger Response” useful as a term to specifically reference one type of purinergic signalling. One which, yes, the author you link to is investigating, and invented the “Cell Danger Response” term for; but one which was already known as a type of purinergic signal (and an interesting, unique response to said signal) before their work. Their contribution is mostly in the disease linkages, not in providing evidence that the purine signal+response they call “Cell Danger Response” happens. So, in other words, even if they’re P-hacking, the worst setback science might see is that these syndromes don’t turn out to be ameliorated by CDR-inhibiting enzymes after all. However, I would note at least one distributed experiment by another “author”: the nootropics community has adopted https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulforaphane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulforaphane as a seemingly-effective treatment for the symptoms of autistic spectrum disorders (to the point that, with only their interest, it has become a common supplement with many available brands.) While we don’t understand sulforaphane very well, various journal papers suggest it has a role in modulating purine metabolism; and so the amateur biologists of the Internet have hypothesized that it is likely “cleaning” purinergic signalling molecules out of affected tissue for long enough for the cells to “relax” and stop screaming at one-another.
- darkerside 7y ago
  Do I understand correctly that sulforaphane could reduce the amount of purines released into the bloodstream? Is it a potential treatment for gout and other hyperuricemia conditions?

by twic 7y ago

ianai 7y ago

Careful? His comment is arguably the best I’ve read on HN this week.

derefr 7y ago

The jargon term is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purinergic_signalling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purinergic_signalling. Personally, I find “Cell Danger Response” useful as a term to specifically reference one type of purinergic signalling. One which, yes, the author you link to is investigating, and invented the “Cell Danger Response” term for; but one which was already known as a type of purinergic signal (and an interesting, unique response to said signal) before their work. Their contribution is mostly in the disease linkages, not in providing evidence that the purine signal+response they call “Cell Danger Response” happens. So, in other words, even if they’re P-hacking, the worst setback science might see is that these syndromes don’t turn out to be ameliorated by CDR-inhibiting enzymes after all. However, I would note at least one distributed experiment by another “author”: the nootropics community has adopted https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulforaphane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulforaphane as a seemingly-effective treatment for the symptoms of autistic spectrum disorders (to the point that, with only their interest, it has become a common supplement with many available brands.) While we don’t understand sulforaphane very well, various journal papers suggest it has a role in modulating purine metabolism; and so the amateur biologists of the Internet have hypothesized that it is likely “cleaning” purinergic signalling molecules out of affected tissue for long enough for the cells to “relax” and stop screaming at one-another.

darkerside 7y ago
Do I understand correctly that sulforaphane could reduce the amount of purines released into the bloodstream? Is it a potential treatment for gout and other hyperuricemia conditions?