MELBOURNE, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- An Australian-led study reveals how dying cells are cleared from the body, potentially aiding recovery from cancer, infections and inflammatory diseases.

Scientists found that neighboring cells, not the dying cells themselves, play a key role in breaking them down, a media release from Australia's La Trobe University said Thursday.

Traditionally, it was believed that dying cells were broken into smaller pieces by the cell's own internal machinery, enabling the pieces to be more easily removed from the body, the release said.

Using high-resolution imaging, the team led by scientists at La Trobe University's Institute for Molecular Science and Research Center for Extracellular Vesicles revealed that the neighboring cells apply mechanical force to split the dying cells into smaller fragments before consuming them.

Lead researcher Jascinta Santavanond compared the process to breaking apart a loaf of bread to create bite-sized pieces easier to digest, as "it would be quite difficult to eat a loaf of bread whole."

"By doing this, you also leave these little breadcrumbs around, allowing you to share pieces of that bread with your neighbor or friends," Santavanond said.

The study suggests the process is a crucial adaptation for efficient clearance of dying cells, especially in tissues where neighboring cells may have limited capacity to engulf large objects, she said, adding that it allows tissues to efficiently remove about a billion dying cells daily, preventing inflammation and maintaining normal tissue function.

"This research not only expands our knowledge on how dying cells undergo fragmentation and are cleared, which is important for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, but this work may benefit the development of cell therapy for treatments, including for cancer," Santavanond said. ■