Impairment of the autophagy pathway has been observed during the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by abnormal deposition of extracellular and intracellular amyloid β (Aβ) peptides. Yet the role of autophagy in Aβ production and AD progression is complex. To study whether increased basal autophagy plays a beneficial role in Aβ clearance and cog...

Autophagy is activated early after human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection but, later on, the virus blocks autophagy. Here we characterized 2 HCMV proteins, TRS1 and IRS1, which inhibit autophagy during infection. Expression of either TRS1 or IRS1 was able to block autophagy in different cell lines, independently of the EIF2S1 kinase, EIF2AK2/PKR. Instead, TRS1 and IRS1 interacted with the autop...

Discovery of yeast autophagy-related (ATG) genes and subsequent identification of their homologs in other organisms have enabled researchers to investigate physiological functions of macroautophagy/autophagy using genetic techniques. Specific identification of autophagy-related structures is important to evaluate autophagic activity, and specific ablation of autophagy-related genes is a critica...

Autophagy is a tissue-specific regulator of homeostasis and survival Autophagy captures and degrades intracellular components such as proteins and organelles to sustain metabolism and homeostasis. Low levels of basal autophagy prevent the gradual accumulation of damaged proteins and organelles in tissues that is toxic over time; thus, autophagy plays an important role in protein and organelle q...

Autophagy is a cellular homeostasis process which plays an important role in energy balance, especially during critical time such as starvation or nutrient stress. It also prevents the accumulation of damaged organelles or misfolded proteins in cytoplasm through lysosomal digestion. Autophagy recycles superfluous or damaged organelles and utilizes their hydrolyzed products for cellular vital fu...

The autophagy pathway is an essential component of host defense against viral infection, orchestrating pathogen degradation (xenophagy), innate immune signaling, and certain aspects of adaptive immunity. Single autophagy proteins or cassettes of the core autophagy machinery can also function as antiviral factors independently of the canonical autophagy pathway. Moreover, to survive and propagat...

Autophagy plays a direct or indirect role in health and disease. A simplified definition of autophagy is thatit is an exceedingly complex process which degrades modified, superfluous (surplus) or damaged cellularmacromolecules and whole organelles using hydrolytic enzymes in the lysosomes. It consists of sequentialsteps of induction of autophagy, formation of autophagosome precursor...

(Macro)autophagy delivers cellular constituents to lysosomes for degradation. Although a cytoplasmic process, autophagy-deficient cells accumulate genomic damage, but an explanation for this effect is currently unclear. We report here that inhibition of autophagy causes elevated proteasomal activity leading to enhanced degradation of checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1), a pivotal factor for the error-fr...

Macroautophagy (autophagy) is a lysosomal degradation pathway for the breakdown of intracellular proteins and organelles. Although constitutive autophagy is a homeostatic mechanism for intracellular recycling and metabolic regulation, autophagy is also stress responsive, in which it is important for the removal of damaged proteins and organelles. Autophagy thereby confers stress tolerance, limi...

Autophagy is a catabolic process involved in cellular homeostasis under basal and stressed conditions. Autophagy is crucial for normal liver physiology and the pathogenesis of liver diseases. During the last decade, the function of autophagy in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been evaluated extensively. Currently, autophagy is thought to play a dual role in HCC, i.e., autophagy is involved i...