We go about our daily lives, understanding almost nothing about ourselves. I know it’s a bit harsh to say, but we concern ourselves with worthless things and give little thought to what is happening inside our bodies. To be honest, we should be ‘focusing on our inner world, before our outer world’. As a Greek Philosopher once rightly said, “Know thyself”.
Now, you may ask, what is our inner world?
Despite being God’s most sublime creation, humans are just a bunch of cells at the core working in perfect harmony (almost all the time). These tiny cells are our inner world and make us ‘Us’. Any disturbance in this harmony and we start feeling terrible as it affects our health, mood, and even emotions. That’s why we should know about it and look after it, because there are numerous things in this world that are constantly trying to invade our bodies.
Our most potent enemies are pathogens (bacteria, fungi, and viruses) that cause trouble to our inner world. Naturally, our body responds to such trouble by activating several proteins (our own little army). These proteins and their harmonious functions represent our defense strategies against these foreign invaders (pathogens). Some proteins are more impactful (think of them as officers), while others are less impactful (soldiers).
Now, let me tell you a story. A story about the notorious pathogens, specifically viruses, and their clever attack on our inner world. You may have read so many stories of different viruses, most recently “The Covid-19 Horror Story”, as the main culprit behind the pandemic, but this is no such story. This one highlights their smartness and intelligence, through which they trick our inner world into helping them and ultimately turning us into ‘Virus-producing Factories’. Yeah, they’re a lot smarter than us. Now, our tiny cells can choose either to be victims of viral hardships or to fight for survival. Mostly, they choose the latter; thus, this story shall also discuss the fight our inner world puts up to cease their attack.
Now, you may ask — We are getting invaded, but we have our protein army — ready to fight and beat these viruses. So what’s the problem?
In our elementary school, we all have studied this amazing and super useful thing that ‘Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell’. But little do we know about the fact that this powerhouse also produces toxic waste (scientists call them Reactive Oxygen Species). Believe it or not, that’s true. But, before this toxic waste causes any major problem, our cells remove it with antioxidants. Think of antioxidants as magic compounds. However, any malfunction in our waste-removal system can cause oxidative stress to our cells. Yes, our tiny cells also feel stressed, and viruses like to cause such malfunctioning. They want us to be stressed, as it weakens our cells from the inside. This could also negatively affect our defenses. And that is exactly what they want — our weakened defenses, so we are unable to mount a strong resistance.
People often say that if you tend to get stressed out frequently, it can take a serious toll on your health, ranging from a weak immune system, digestive system problems, and increased heart attack risk. Now, with weak resistance, the viruses are poised for victory. So, if we want to fight back strongly, we need our army. We need our proteins to fix the waste-removal system. We need them to relieve the cellular stress so that we can gain our inner strength.
Now, here’s where the plot takes a dramatic twist — the smart viruses don’t just attack us from the outside. They also infiltrate and seize control of our very own little army: our proteins and their production. These proteins, once working for us, are now turned against us. The tables have turned. Total mess. Chaos erupts. The question is — What do we do now against our own turned proteins?
Based on the scientific research and data, there are countless proteins known to support viruses. I personally conducted research on one such protein in my PhD and observed that proteins once activated to relieve the stress in the first place, were supporting the virus infection. Yeah, that’s strange, but true (take a look at my research paper linked above).
Now, coming back to the story, honestly, we have very little choice in this situation. Our best option is to inactivate some of our officer proteins with the most impact. That’s our last line of defense to protect ourselves. This can be done in multiple ways. The simplest way is to use ‘protein blockers’ (Inhibitors). Yes, there are protein blockers that can prevent them from working, which helps to stop our inner suffering. Apart from this, we can also use those magic compounds (antioxidants) to relieve the stress and put an end to the viruses.
Sadly, every story of viral disease begins with our innocent, tiny cells minding their business and ends with the cells being exploited by viruses. There is a lot out there in the middle where our brave cells try to fight everything out, some of which is still a mystery to the world. Lastly, Scientists believe that (and I also agree) that a better knowledge of the battles of our inner world could help us transform our existing army into something dreadful for the pathogens.
Now, you know how our cells and proteins fight against the smart and intelligent viruses, and what we can do to support our inner world.
Comments