Defective noncanonical autophagy in SLE-like disease

Noncanonical Autophagy Promotes the Visual Cycle

Phagocytosis and degradation of photoreceptor outer segments (POS) by retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is fundamental to vision. Autophagy is also responsible for bulk degradation of cellular components, but its role in POS degradation is not well understood. We report that the morning burst of RPE phagocytosis coincided with the enzymatic conversion of autophagy protein LC3 to its lipidated fo...

Defective waste disposal: does it induce autoantibodies in SLE?

Shear stress induces noncanonical autophagy in intestinal epithelial monolayers

Flow of fluids through the gut, such as milk from a neonatal diet, generates a shear stress on the unilaminar epithelium lining the lumen. We report that exposure to physiological levels of fluid shear stress leads to the formation of large vacuoles, containing extracellular contents within polarizing intestinal epithelial cell monolayers. These observations lead to two questions: how can cells...

Defective autophagy gets to the brain

Macroautophagy (herein referred to as autophagy) is an evolutionary ancient mechanism that culminates in the lysosomal degradation of useless or potentially dangerous intracellular entities, be them endogenous (like damaged organelles) or exogenous (like invading bacteria). Autophagy not only contributes to the maintenance of cellular homeostasis in physiological conditions, but also plays an e...

Atherogenesis and Vascular Disease in SLE