Why should autophagic flux be assessed?
Abstract
Xiao-jie ZHANG1, 2, Sheng CHEN1, Kai-xing HUANG2, Wei-dong LE1, 2, *
1Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China; 2Institute of Health Sciences, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences-Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China
As autophagy is involved in cell growth, survival, development and death, impaired autophagic flux has been linked to a variety of human pathophysiological processes, including neurodegeneration, cancer, myopathy, cardiovascular and immune-mediated disorders. There is a growing need to identify and quantify the status of autophagic flux in different pathological conditions. Given that autophagy is a highly dynamic and complex process that is regulated at multiple steps, it is often assessed accurately. This perspective review article will focus on the autophagic flux defects in different human disorders and update the current methods of monitoring autophagic flux. This knowledge is essential for developing autophagy-related therapeutics for treating the diseases.
Keywords: autophagy; autophagic flux; autophagosome-lysosome fusion; neurodegenerative disease; cancer; myopathy; cardiovascular disease; immune-mediated disorder
This review was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No 81000541 and No 81171201) and the National Basic Research Program of China (No 2011CB510003).
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail wdle@sibs.ac.cn
Received 2012-11-07 Accepted 2012-12-05
Keywords:
1Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China; 2Institute of Health Sciences, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences-Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China
As autophagy is involved in cell growth, survival, development and death, impaired autophagic flux has been linked to a variety of human pathophysiological processes, including neurodegeneration, cancer, myopathy, cardiovascular and immune-mediated disorders. There is a growing need to identify and quantify the status of autophagic flux in different pathological conditions. Given that autophagy is a highly dynamic and complex process that is regulated at multiple steps, it is often assessed accurately. This perspective review article will focus on the autophagic flux defects in different human disorders and update the current methods of monitoring autophagic flux. This knowledge is essential for developing autophagy-related therapeutics for treating the diseases.
Keywords: autophagy; autophagic flux; autophagosome-lysosome fusion; neurodegenerative disease; cancer; myopathy; cardiovascular disease; immune-mediated disorder
This review was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No 81000541 and No 81171201) and the National Basic Research Program of China (No 2011CB510003).
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail wdle@sibs.ac.cn
Received 2012-11-07 Accepted 2012-12-05