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International Journal of Molecular... Aug 2017Autophagy is a cytoplasmic degradation system, which is important for starvation adaptation and cellular quality control. Recent advances in understanding autophagy... (Review)
Review
Autophagy is a cytoplasmic degradation system, which is important for starvation adaptation and cellular quality control. Recent advances in understanding autophagy highlight its importance under physiological and pathological conditions. However, methods for monitoring autophagic activity are complicated and the results are sometimes misinterpreted. Here, we review the methods used to identify autophagic structures, and to measure autophagic flux in cultured cells and animals. We will also describe the existing autophagy reporter mice that are useful for autophagy studies and drug testing. Lastly, we will consider the attempts to monitor autophagy in samples derived from humans.
Topics: Animals; Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Autophagy-Related Proteins; Humans; Microscopy, Fluorescence
PubMed: 28846632
DOI: 10.3390/ijms18091865 -
Autophagy 2018Macroautophagy/autophagy is an essential, conserved self-eating process that cells perform to allow degradation of intracellular components, including soluble proteins,... (Review)
Review
Macroautophagy/autophagy is an essential, conserved self-eating process that cells perform to allow degradation of intracellular components, including soluble proteins, aggregated proteins, organelles, macromolecular complexes, and foreign bodies. The process requires formation of a double-membrane structure containing the sequestered cytoplasmic material, the autophagosome, that ultimately fuses with the lysosome. This review will define this process and the cellular pathways required, from the formation of the double membrane to the fusion with lysosomes in molecular terms, and in particular highlight the recent progress in our understanding of this complex process.
Topics: Animals; Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Autophagy-Related Proteins; Endocytosis; Humans; Lysosomes; Membrane Fusion; SNARE Proteins; Secretory Pathway
PubMed: 28933638
DOI: 10.1080/15548627.2017.1378838 -
Autophagy 2018Macroautophagy/autophagy is a conserved transport pathway where targeted structures are sequestered by phagophores, which mature into autophagosomes, and then delivered...
Macroautophagy/autophagy is a conserved transport pathway where targeted structures are sequestered by phagophores, which mature into autophagosomes, and then delivered into lysosomes for degradation. Autophagy is involved in the pathophysiology of numerous diseases and its modulation is beneficial for the outcome of numerous specific diseases. Several lysosomal inhibitors such as bafilomycin A (BafA), protease inhibitors and chloroquine (CQ), have been used interchangeably to block autophagy in in vitro experiments assuming that they all primarily block lysosomal degradation. Among them, only CQ and its derivate hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) are FDA-approved drugs and are thus currently the principal compounds used in clinical trials aimed to treat tumors through autophagy inhibition. However, the precise mechanism of how CQ blocks autophagy remains to be firmly demonstrated. In this study, we focus on how CQ inhibits autophagy and directly compare its effects to those of BafA. We show that CQ mainly inhibits autophagy by impairing autophagosome fusion with lysosomes rather than by affecting the acidity and/or degradative activity of this organelle. Furthermore, CQ induces an autophagy-independent severe disorganization of the Golgi and endo-lysosomal systems, which might contribute to the fusion impairment. Strikingly, HCQ-treated mice also show a Golgi disorganization in kidney and intestinal tissues. Altogether, our data reveal that CQ and HCQ are not bona fide surrogates for other types of late stage lysosomal inhibitors for in vivo experiments. Moreover, the multiple cellular alterations caused by CQ and HCQ call for caution when interpreting results obtained by blocking autophagy with this drug.
Topics: Animals; Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Cell Line, Tumor; Chloroquine; Endocytosis; Endosomes; ErbB Receptors; Female; Golgi Apparatus; Humans; Hydroxychloroquine; Lysosomes; Macrolides; Membrane Fusion; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Proteolysis; Sequestosome-1 Protein
PubMed: 29940786
DOI: 10.1080/15548627.2018.1474314 -
Journal of Molecular Biology Apr 2020Macroautophagy is a conserved catabolic process observed in all eukaryotic cells, during which selected cellular components are transported to and broken down within... (Review)
Review
Macroautophagy is a conserved catabolic process observed in all eukaryotic cells, during which selected cellular components are transported to and broken down within lysosomes. The process starts with the capture of unnecessary material into autophagosomes, which is followed by autophagosome-lysosome fusion to generate autolysosomes that degrade the cargo. In the past quarter-century, our knowledge about autophagosome formation almost exponentially increased, while the later steps were much less studied. This fortunately changed in the past few years, with more and more publications focusing on the fate of the completed autophagosome. In this review, we aspire to summarize the current knowledge about the molecular mechanisms of autophagosome-lysosome fusion.
Topics: Animals; Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Humans; Lysosomes; Neurodegenerative Diseases; SNARE Proteins
PubMed: 31682838
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2019.10.028 -
Autophagy Jan 2020Many diseases are caused by aberrant accumulation of certain proteins that are misfolded and cytotoxic, and lowering the level of these proteins provides promising... (Review)
Review
Many diseases are caused by aberrant accumulation of certain proteins that are misfolded and cytotoxic, and lowering the level of these proteins provides promising treatment strategies for these diseases. We hypothesized that compounds that interact with both the disease-causing protein and the phagophore (autophagosome precursor) protein LC3 may tether the former to phagophores for subsequent autophagic degradation. If true, this uophagosome-thering ompound (ATTEC) concept could be applied to many disease-causing proteins to treat diseases. We tested this hypothesis in the scenario of Huntington disease (HD), a neurodegenerative disorder that is caused by the mutant HTT (mHTT) protein with an expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) stretch. In our recent study, we designed a small-molecule microarray-based screening and identified four mHTT-lowering compounds that interact with both mHTT and LC3, but not wild-type (WT) HTT. These compounds target mHTT to phagophores for autophagic degradation without influencing the WT HTT level, and rescue HD-relevant phenotypes in HD cells and in the fly and mouse HD models. Interestingly, these compounds interact with the expanded polyQ stretch directly and are able to reduce other disease-causing proteins with expanded polyQ. In summary, our study provides the initial validation of lowering mHTT by ATTEC, providing entry points to new treatment strategies of HD and similar diseases.
Topics: Animals; Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Disease Models, Animal; Humans; Huntingtin Protein; Huntington Disease; Nerve Tissue Proteins
PubMed: 31690177
DOI: 10.1080/15548627.2019.1688556 -
The Journal of Cell Biology Jul 2022The stimulator of interferon genes (STING) plays a critical role in innate immunity. Emerging evidence suggests that STING is important for DNA or cGAMP-induced...
The stimulator of interferon genes (STING) plays a critical role in innate immunity. Emerging evidence suggests that STING is important for DNA or cGAMP-induced non-canonical autophagy, which is independent of a large part of canonical autophagy machineries. Here, we report that, in the absence of STING, energy stress-induced autophagy is upregulated rather than downregulated. Depletion of STING in Drosophila fat cells enhances basal- and starvation-induced autophagic flux. During acute exercise, STING knockout mice show increased autophagy flux, exercise endurance, and altered glucose metabolism. Mechanistically, these observations could be explained by the STING-STX17 interaction. STING physically interacts with STX17, a SNARE that is essential for autophagosome biogenesis and autophagosome-lysosome fusion. Energy crisis and TBK1-mediated phosphorylation both disrupt the STING-STX17 interaction, allow different pools of STX17 to translocate to phagophores and mature autophagosomes, and promote autophagic flux. Taken together, we demonstrate a heretofore unexpected function of STING in energy stress-induced autophagy through spatial regulation of autophagic SNARE STX17.
Topics: Animals; Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Drosophila; Energy Metabolism; Lysosomes; Membrane Proteins; Mice; Mice, Knockout; Physical Conditioning, Animal; Qa-SNARE Proteins
PubMed: 35510944
DOI: 10.1083/jcb.202202060 -
Developmental Cell Oct 2020In eukaryotic cells, various membrane-bound organelles compartmentalize diverse cellular activities in a spatially and temporally controlled manner. Numerous... (Review)
Review
In eukaryotic cells, various membrane-bound organelles compartmentalize diverse cellular activities in a spatially and temporally controlled manner. Numerous membraneless organelles assembled via liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), known as condensates, also facilitate compartmentalization of cellular functions. Emerging evidence shows that these two organelle types interact in many biological processes. Membranes modulate the biogenesis and dynamics of phase-separated condensates by serving as assembly platforms or by forming direct contacts. Phase separation of membrane-associated proteins participates in various trafficking events, such as clustering of vesicles for temporally controlled fusion and storage, and transport of membraneless condensates on membrane-bound organelles. Phase separation also acts in cargo trafficking pathways by sorting and docking cargos for translocon-mediated transport across membranes, by shuttling cargos through the nuclear pore complex, and by triggering the formation of surrounding autophagosomes for delivery to lysosomes. The coordinated actions of membrane-bound and membraneless organelles ensure spatiotemporal control of various cellular functions.
Topics: Autophagosomes; Biology; Biophysical Phenomena; Cell Physiological Phenomena; Humans; Membranes; Organelles
PubMed: 32726575
DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2020.06.033 -
Journal of Molecular Biology Jan 2020Selective autophagy relies on soluble or membrane-bound cargo receptors that recognize cargo and bring about autophagosome formation at the cargo. The cargo-bound... (Review)
Review
Selective autophagy relies on soluble or membrane-bound cargo receptors that recognize cargo and bring about autophagosome formation at the cargo. The cargo-bound receptors interact with lipidated ATG8 family proteins anchored in the membrane at the concave side of the forming autophagosome. The interaction is mediated by 15- to 20-amino-acid-long sequence motifs called LC3-interacting region (LIR) motifs that bind to the LIR docking site (LDS) of ATG8 proteins. In this review, we focus on LIR-ATG8 interactions and the soluble mammalian selective autophagy receptors. We discuss the roles of ATG8 family proteins as membrane scaffolds in autophagy and the LIR-LDS interaction and how specificity for binding to GABARAP or LC3 subfamily proteins is achieved. We also discuss atypical LIR-LDS interactions and a novel LIR-independent interaction. Recently, it has become clear that several of the soluble cargo receptors are able to recruit components of the core autophagy apparatus to aid in assembling autophagosome formation at the site of cargo sequestration. A model on phagophore recruitment and expansion on a selective autophagy receptor-coated cargo incorporating the latest findings is presented.
Topics: Animals; Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Autophagy-Related Protein 8 Family; Humans; Macroautophagy; Microtubule-Associated Proteins; Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs; Protein Interaction Maps
PubMed: 31310766
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2019.07.016 -
Cell Research Dec 2022STING, an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) transmembrane protein, mediates innate immune activation upon cGAMP stimulation and is degraded through autophagy. Here, we report...
STING, an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) transmembrane protein, mediates innate immune activation upon cGAMP stimulation and is degraded through autophagy. Here, we report that activated STING could be transferred between cells to promote antitumor immunity, a process triggered by RAB22A-mediated non-canonical autophagy. Mechanistically, RAB22A engages PI4K2A to generate PI4P that recruits the Atg12-Atg5-Atg16L1 complex, inducing the formation of ER-derived RAB22A-mediated non-canonical autophagosome, in which STING activated by agonists or chemoradiotherapy is packaged. This RAB22A-induced autophagosome fuses with RAB22A-positive early endosome, generating a new organelle that we name Rafeesome (RAB22A-mediated non-canonical autophagosome fused with early endosome). Meanwhile, RAB22A inactivates RAB7 to suppress the fusion of Rafeesome with lysosome, thereby enabling the secretion of the inner vesicle of the autophagosome bearing activated STING as a new type of extracellular vesicle that we define as R-EV (RAB22A-induced extracellular vesicle). Activated STING-containing R-EVs induce IFNβ release from recipient cells to the tumor microenvironment, promoting antitumor immunity. Consistently, RAB22A enhances the antitumor effect of the STING agonist diABZI in mice, and a high RAB22A level predicts good survival in nasopharyngeal cancer patients treated with chemoradiotherapy. Our findings reveal that Rafeesome regulates the intercellular transfer of activated STING to trigger and spread antitumor immunity, and that the inner vesicle of non-canonical autophagosome originated from ER is secreted as R-EV, providing a new perspective for understanding the intercellular communication of organelle membrane proteins.
Topics: Animals; Mice; Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Immunity, Innate; Lysosomes; Membrane Proteins; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms; Tumor Microenvironment; Humans
PubMed: 36280710
DOI: 10.1038/s41422-022-00731-w -
Cell Research Sep 2021Degrading pathogenic proteins by degrader technologies such as PROTACs (proteolysis-targeting chimeras) provides promising therapeutic strategies, but selective...
Degrading pathogenic proteins by degrader technologies such as PROTACs (proteolysis-targeting chimeras) provides promising therapeutic strategies, but selective degradation of non-protein pathogenic biomolecules has been challenging. Here, we demonstrate a novel strategy to degrade non-protein biomolecules by autophagy-tethering compounds (ATTECs), using lipid droplets (LDs) as an exemplar target. LDs are ubiquitous cellular structures storing lipids and could be degraded by autophagy. We hypothesized that compounds interacting with both the LDs and the key autophagosome protein LC3 may enhance autophagic degradation of LDs. We designed and synthesized such compounds by connecting LC3-binding molecules to LD-binding probes via a linker. These compounds were capable of clearing LDs almost completely and rescued LD-related phenotypes in cells and in two independent mouse models with hepatic lipidosis. We further confirmed that the mechanism of action of these compounds was mediated through LC3 and autophagic degradation. Our proof-of-concept study demonstrates the capability of degrading LDs by ATTECs. Conceptually, this strategy could be applied to other protein and non-protein targets.
Topics: Animals; Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Chimera; Lipid Droplets; Lipid Metabolism; Mice; Proteins
PubMed: 34239073
DOI: 10.1038/s41422-021-00532-7