A protein from a terrifying, jawless "vampire fish" might be the key to stopping our own cells from dying.
April 16, 2026
Original Paper
Lamprey-Derived Intelectin-1 Suppresses Ferroptosis in Cells by Upregulating VKORC1L1 as a Compensatory Mechanism
SSRN · 6574182
The Takeaway
Lampreys are one of the most primitive vertebrates on Earth, but they might hold a secret to human longevity. Researchers found that a lamprey protein called Intelectin-1 can block ferroptosis—a specific, iron-driven type of cell death that’s linked to heart disease and cancer. It works by triggering a compensatory gene that normally stays quiet in human cells. This is a "holy shit" discovery because it shows that a creature that hasn't changed in millions of years has already solved a problem that's currently killing us. Adapting this "fish medicine" for humans could lead to breakthrough treatments for some of our most stubborn diseases.
From the abstract
Intelectin-1 (ITLN1) is a highly conserved secreted glycoprotein, also known as omentin-1 in adipose tissue, and has been demonstrated to play important roles in regulating insulin sensitivity and metabolic homeostasis. Lamprey serum spherical lectin (LSSL), a homolog of ITLN1, possesses a unique icosahedral hollow spherical structure, making it an ideal molecular tool for exploring novel biological functions of the ITLN1 family. In this study, we stably overexpressed lamprey ITLN1 in 3T3-L1 cel