Adaptive autophagy in Alexander disease-affected astrocytes

The ubiquitin-proteasome and autophagy-lysosomal pathways are the two main routes of protein and organelle clearance in eukaryotic cells. The proteasome system is responsible for unfolded, short-lived proteins, which precludes the clearance of oligomeric and aggregated proteins, whereas macroautophagy, a process generally referred to as autophagy, mediates mainly the bulk degradation of long-lived cytoplasmic proteins, large protein complexes or organelles.¹ Recently, the autophagy-lysosomal pathway has been implicated in neurodegenerative disorders as an important pathway for the clearance of abnormally accumulated intracellular proteins, such as huntingtin, tau, and mutant and modified α-synuclein.^1-6 Our recent study illustrated the induction of adaptive autophagy in response to mutant glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) accumulation in astrocytes, in the brains of patients with Alexander disease (AxD), and in mutant GFAP knock-in mouse brains.⁷ This autophagic response is negatively regulated by mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). The activation of p38 MAPK by GFAP accumulation is responsible for mTOR inactivation and the induction of autophagy. We also found that the accumulation of GFAP impairs proteasome activity.⁸ In this commentary we discuss the potential compensatory relationship between an impaired proteasome and activated autophagy, and propose that the MLK-MAPK (mixed lineage kinase–mitogen-activated protein kinase) cascade is a regulator of this crosstalk.

Addendum to: Tang G, Yue Z, Talloczy, Z, Hagemann T, Cho W, Sulzer D, Messing A, Goldman JE. Alexander disease-mutant GFAP accumulation stimulates autophagy through p38 MAPK and mTOR signaling pathways. Hum Mol Genetics 2008; In press.     

Beneficial effects of curcumin on GFAP filament organization and down-regulation of GFAP expression in an in vitro model of Alexander disease

Heterozygous mutations of the GFAP gene are responsible for Alexander disease, a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by intracytoplasmic Rosenthal fibers (RFs) in dystrophic astrocytes. In vivo and in vitro models have shown co-localization of mutant GFAP proteins with the small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) HSP27 and alphaB-crystallin, ubiquitin and proteasome components. Results reported by several recent studies agree on ascribing an altered cytoskeletal pattern to mutant GFAP proteins, an effect which induces mutant proteins accumulation, leading to impaired proteasome function and autophagy induction. On the basis of the protective role shown by both these small heat shock proteins (sHSPs), and on the already well established neuroprotective effects of curcumin in several diseases, we have investigated the effects of this compound in an in vitro model of Alexander disease, consisting in U251-MG astrocytoma cells transiently transfected with a construct encoding for GFAP carrying the p.R239C mutation in frame with the reporter green fluorescent protein (GFP). In particular, depending on the dose used, we have observed that curcumin is able to induce both HSP27 and alphaB-crystallin, to reduce expression of both RNA and protein of endogenous GFAP, to induce autophagy and, finally, to rescue the filamentous organization of the GFAP mutant protein, thus suggesting a role of this spice in counteracting the pathogenic effects of GFAP mutations.     

Synergistic effects of the SAPK/JNK and the proteasome pathway on glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) accumulation in Alexander disease

Protein aggregates in astrocytes that contain glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), small heat shock proteins, and ubiquitinated proteins are termed Rosenthal fibers and characterize Alexander disease, a leukodystrophy caused by heterozygous mutations in GFAP. The mechanisms responsible for the massive accumulation of GFAP in Alexander disease remain unclear. In this study, we show that overexpression of both wild type and R239C mutant human GFAP led to cytoplasmic inclusions. GFAP accumulation also led to a decrease of proteasome activity and an activation of the MLK2-JNK pathway. In turn, the expression of activated mixed lineage kinases (MLKs) induced JNK activation and increased GFAP accumulation, whereas blocking the JNK pathway decreased GFAP accumulation. Activated MLK also inhibited proteasome function. A direct inhibition of proteasome function pharmacologically further activated JNK. Our data suggest a synergistic interplay between the proteasome and the SAPK/JNK pathway in the context of GFAP accumulation. Feedback interactions among GFAP accumulation, SAPK/JNK activation, and proteasomal hypofunction cooperate to produce further protein accumulation and cellular stress responses.     

Role of autophagy in the clearance of mutant huntingtin: a step towards therapy?

Macroautophagy (henceforth referred to simply as autophagy) is a bulk degradation process involved in the clearance of long-lived proteins, protein complexes and organelles. A portion of the cytosol, with its contents to be degraded, is enclosed by double-membrane structures called autophagosomes/autophagic vacuoles, which ultimately fuse with lysosomes where their contents are degraded. In this review, we will describe how induction of autophagy is protective against toxic intracytosolic aggregate-prone proteins that cause a range of neurodegenerative diseases. Autophagy is a key clearance pathway involved in the removal of such proteins, including mutant huntingtin (that causes Huntington’s disease), mutant ataxin-3 (that causes spinocerebellar ataxia type 3), forms of tau that cause tauopathies, and forms of alpha-synuclein that cause familial Parkinson’s disease. Induction of autophagy enhances the clearance of both soluble and aggregated forms of such proteins, and protects against toxicity of a range of these mutations in cell and animal models. Interestingly, the aggregates formed by mutant huntingtin sequester and inactivate the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a key negative regulator of autophagy. This results in induction of autophagy in cells with these aggregates.     

Lithium induces autophagy by inhibiting inositol monophosphatase

Macroautophagy is a key pathway for the clearance of aggregate-prone cytosolic proteins. Currently, the only suitable pharmacologic strategy for up-regulating autophagy in mammalian cells is to use rapamycin, which inhibits the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a negative regulator of autophagy. Here we describe a novel mTOR-independent pathway that regulates autophagy. We show that lithium induces autophagy, and thereby, enhances the clearance of autophagy substrates, like mutant huntingtin and alpha-synucleins. This effect is not mediated by glycogen synthase kinase 3beta inhibition. The autophagy-enhancing properties of lithium were mediated by inhibition of inositol monophosphatase and led to free inositol depletion. This, in turn, decreased myo-inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) levels. Our data suggest that the autophagy effect is mediated at the level of (or downstream of) lowered IP3, because it was abrogated by pharmacologic treatments that increased IP3. This novel pharmacologic strategy for autophagy induction is independent of mTOR, and may help treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, like Huntington's disease, where the toxic protein is an autophagy substrate.     

Inhibition of retrograde transport modulates misfolded protein accumulation and clearance in motoneuron diseases

Motoneuron diseases, like spinal bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), are associated with proteins that because of gene mutation or peculiar structures, acquire aberrant (misfolded) conformations toxic to cells. To prevent misfolded protein toxicity, cells activate a protein quality control (PQC) system composed of chaperones and degradative pathways (proteasome and autophagy). Inefficient activation of the PQC system results in misfolded protein accumulation that ultimately leads to neuronal cell death, while efficient macroautophagy/autophagy-mediated degradation of aggregating proteins is beneficial. The latter relies on an active retrograde transport, mediated by dynein and specific chaperones, such as the HSPB8-BAG3-HSPA8 complex. Here, using cellular models expressing aggregate-prone proteins involved in SBMA and ALS, we demonstrate that inhibition of dynein-mediated retrograde transport, which impairs the targeting to autophagy of misfolded species, does not increase their aggregation. Rather, dynein inhibition correlates with a reduced accumulation and an increased clearance of mutant ARpolyQ, SOD1, truncated TARDBP/TDP-43 and expanded polyGP C9ORF72 products. The enhanced misfolded protein clearance is mediated by the proteasome, rather than by autophagy and correlates with the upregulation of the HSPA8 cochaperone BAG1. In line, overexpression of BAG1 increases the proteasome-mediated clearance of these misfolded proteins. Our data suggest that when the misfolded proteins cannot be efficiently transported toward the perinuclear region of the cells, where they are either degraded by autophagy or stored into the aggresome, the cells activate a compensatory mechanism that relies on the induction of BAG1 to target the HSPA8-bound cargo to the proteasome in a dynein-independent manner.     

Autophagy,a guardian against neurodegeneration

Autophagy is an intracellular degradation process responsible for the clearance of most long-lived proteins and organelles. Cytoplasmic components are enclosed by double-membrane autophagosomes, which subsequently fuse with lysosomes for degradation. Autophagy dysfunction may contribute to the pathology of various neurodegenerative disorders, which manifest abnormal protein accumulation. As autophagy induction enhances the clearance of aggregate-prone intracytoplasmic proteins that cause neurodegeneration (like mutant huntingtin, tau and ataxin 3) and confers cytoprotective roles in cell and animal models, upregulating autophagy may be a tractable therapeutic strategy for diseases caused by such proteins. Here, we will review the molecular machinery of autophagy and its role in neurodegenerative diseases. Drugs and associated signalling pathways that may be targeted for pharmacological induction of autophagy will also be discussed.     

SIRT2 interferes with autophagy-mediated degradation of protein aggregates in neuronal cells under proteasome inhibition

Abnormal protein aggregates have been suggested as a common pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative diseases. Two well-known protein degradation pathways are responsible for protein homeostasis by balancing protein biosynthesis and degradative processes: the ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS) and autophagy-lysosomal system. UPS serves as the primary route for degradation of short-lived proteins, but large-size protein aggregates cannot be degraded by UPS. Autophagy is a unique cellular process that facilitates degradation of bulky protein aggregates by lysosome. Recent studies have demonstrated that autophagy plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases characterized by abnormal protein accumulation, suggesting that regulation of autophagy may be a valuable therapeutic strategy for the treatment of various neurodegenerative diseases. Sirtuin-2 (SIRT2) is a class III histone deacetylase that is expressed abundantly in aging brain tissue. Here, we report that SIRT2 increases protein accumulation in murine cholinergic SN56 cells and human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells under proteasome inhibition. Overexpression of SIRT2 inhibits lysosome-mediated autophagic turnover by interfering with aggresome formation and also makes cells more vulnerable to accumulated protein-mediated cytotoxicity by MG132 and amyloid beta. Moreover, MG132-induced accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins and p62 as well as cytotoxicity are attenuated in siRNA-mediated SIRT2-silencing cells. Taken together, these results suggest that regulation of SIRT2 could be a good therapeutic target for a range of neurodegenerative diseases by regulating autophagic flux.     

Rapamycin and mTOR-independent autophagy inducers ameliorate toxicity of polyglutamine-expanded huntingtin and related proteinopathies

The formation of intra-neuronal mutant protein aggregates is a characteristic of several human neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease (PD) and polyglutamine disorders, including Huntington's disease (HD). Autophagy is a major clearance pathway for the removal of mutant huntingtin associated with HD, and many other disease-causing, cytoplasmic, aggregate-prone proteins. Autophagy is negatively regulated by the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and can be induced in all mammalian cell types by the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin. It can also be induced by a recently described cyclical mTOR-independent pathway, which has multiple drug targets, involving links between Ca(2+)-calpain-G(salpha) and cAMP-Epac-PLC-epsilon-IP(3) signalling. Both pathways enhance the clearance of mutant huntingtin fragments and attenuate polyglutamine toxicity in cell and animal models. The protective effects of rapamycin in vivo are autophagy-dependent. In Drosophila models of various diseases, the benefits of rapamycin are lost when the expression of different autophagy genes is reduced, implicating that its effects are not mediated by autophagy-independent processes (like mild translation suppression). Also, the mTOR-independent autophagy enhancers have no effects on mutant protein clearance in autophagy-deficient cells. In this review, we describe various drugs and pathways inducing autophagy, which may be potential therapeutic approaches for HD and related conditions.     

An insight into the mechanistic role of p53-mediated autophagy induction in response to proteasomal inhibition-induced neurotoxicity

The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) and the autophagy-lysosomal pathway (ALP) are the two most important components of cellular mechanisms for protein degradation. In the present study we investigated the functional relationship of the two systems and the interactional role of p53 in vitro. Our study showed that the proteasome inhibitor lactacystin induced an increase in p53 level and autophagy activity, whereas inhibition of p53 by pifithrin-α or small interference RNA (siRNA) of p53 attenuated the autophagy induction and increased protein aggregation. Furthermore, we found that the pretreatment with the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine or Beclin 1 siRNA further activated p53 and its downstream apoptotic pathways, while the autophagy inducer rapamycin showed the opposite effects. Moreover, we demonstrated that rapamycin pretreatment increased tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) protein level in dopamine (DA) neurons, which was associated with its induction of autophagy to degrade aggregated proteins. Our results suggest that p53 can mediate proteasomal inhibition-induced autophagy enhancement which in turn can partially block p53 or its downstream mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathways. Further autophagy induction with rapamycin protects DA neurons from lactacystin-mediated cell death by downregulating p53 and its related apoptotic pathways and by inducing autophagy to degrade aggregated proteins. Therefore, rapamycin may be a promising drug for protection against neuronal injury relevant to Parkinson’s disease (PD). Our studies thus provide a mechanistic insight into the functional link between the two protein degradation systems.     

Aggregate Clearance of α-Synuclein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Depends More on Autophagosome and Vacuole Function Than on the Proteasome

Parkinson disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. The molecular hallmark is the accumulation of proteinaceous inclusions termed Lewy bodies containing misfolded and aggregated α-synuclein. The molecular mechanism of clearance of α-synuclein aggregates was addressed using the bakers' yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as the model. Overexpression of wild type α-synuclein or the genetic variant A53T integrated into one genomic locus resulted in a gene copy-dependent manner in cytoplasmic proteinaceous inclusions reminiscent of the pathogenesis of the disease. In contrast, overexpression of the genetic variant A30P resulted only in transient aggregation, whereas the designer mutant A30P/A36P/A76P neither caused aggregation nor impaired yeast growth. The α-synuclein accumulation can be cleared after promoter shut-off by a combination of autophagy and vacuolar protein degradation. Whereas the proteasomal inhibitor MG-132 did not significantly inhibit aggregate clearance, treatment with phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, an inhibitor of vacuolar proteases, resulted in significant reduction in clearance. Consistently, a cim3-1 yeast mutant restricted in the 19 S proteasome regulatory subunit was unaffected in clearance, whereas an Δatg1 yeast mutant deficient in autophagy showed a delayed aggregate clearance response. A cim3-1Δatg1 double mutant was still able to clear aggregates, suggesting additional cellular mechanisms for α-synuclein clearance. Our data provide insight into the mechanisms yeast cells use for clearing different species of α-synuclein and demonstrate a higher contribution of the autophagy/vacuole than the proteasome system. This contributes to the understanding of how cells can cope with toxic and/or aggregated proteins and may ultimately enable the development of novel strategies for therapeutic intervention.     

GADD34 mediates cytoprotective autophagy in mutant huntingtin expressing cells via the mTOR pathway

Increased protein aggregation and altered cell signaling accompany many neurodegenerative diseases including Huntington's disease (HD). Cell stress is counterbalanced by signals mediating cell repair but the identity of these are not fully understood. We show here that the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway is inhibited and cytoprotective autophagy is activated in neuronal PC6.3 cells at 24 h after expression of mutant huntingtin proteins. Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) 1/2 interacted with growth arrest and DNA damage protein 34 (GADD34), which caused TSC2 dephosphorylation and induction of autophagy in mutant huntingtin expressing cells. However, GADD34 and autophagy decreased at later time points, after 48 h of transfection with the concomitant increase in mTOR activity. Overexpression of GADD34 counteracted these effects and increased cytoprotective autophagy and cell survival. These results show that GADD34 plays an important role in cell protection in mutant huntingtin expressing cells. Modulation of GADD34 and the TSC pathway may prove useful in counteracting cell degeneration accompanying HD and other neurodegenerative diseases.     

Autophagy is involved in endogenous and NVP-AUY922-induced KIT degradation in gastrointestinal stromal tumors

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is a prototype of mutant KIT oncogene-driven tumor. Prolonged tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment may result in a resistant phenotype through acquired secondary KIT mutation. Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90AA1) is a chaperone protein responsible for protein maturation and stability, and KIT is a known client protein of HSP90AA1. Inhibition of HSP90AA1 has been shown to destabilize KIT protein by enhancing its degradation via the proteasome-dependent pathway. In this study, we demonstrated that NVP-AUY922 (AUY922), a new class of HSP90AA1 inhibitor, is effective in inhibiting the growth of GIST cells expressing mutant KIT protein, the imatinib-sensitive GIST882 and imatinib-resistant GIST48 cells. The growth inhibition was accompanied with a sustained reduction of both total and phosphorylated KIT proteins and the induction of apoptosis in both cell lines. Surprisingly, AUY922-induced KIT reduction could be partially reversed by pharmacological inhibition of either autophagy or proteasome degradation pathway. The blockade of autophagy alone led to the accumulation of the KIT protein, highlighting the role of autophagy in endogenous KIT turnover. The involvement of autophagy in endogenous and AUY922-induced KIT protein turnover was further confirmed by the colocalization of KIT with MAP1LC3B-, acridine orange- or SQSTM1-labeled autophagosome, and by the accumulation of KIT in GIST cells by silencing either BECN1 or ATG5 to disrupt autophagosome activity. Therefore, the results not only highlight the potential application of AUY922 for the treatment of KIT-expressing GISTs, but also provide the first evidence for the involvement of autophagy in endogenous and HSP90AA1 inhibitor-induced KIT degradation.     

Autophagy: an ER Protein Quality Control Process

Protein quality control processes active in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), including ER-associated protein degradation (ERAD) and the unfolded protein response (UPR), prevent the cytotoxic effects that can result from the accumulation of misfolded proteins. Characterization of a yeast mutant deficient in ERAD, a proteasome–dependent degradation pathway, revealed the employment of two overflow pathways from the ER to the vacuole when ERAD was compromised. One removes the soluble misfolded protein via the biosynthetic pathway and the second clears aggregated proteins via autophagy. Previously, autophagy had been implicated in the clearance of cytoplasmic aggresomes, but was not known to play a direct role in ER protein quality control. These findings provide insight into the molecular mechanisms that result in the gain-of-function liver disease associated with both a1-deficiency and hypofibrinogenemia (abnormally low levels of plasma fibrinogen, which is required for blood clotting), and emphasize the need for a more complete understanding of the molecular mechanisms of autophagy and its relationship to protein quality control.

Addendum to:

Characterization of an ERAD Gene as VPS30/ATG6 Reveals Two Alternative and Functionally Distinct Protein Quality Control Pathways: One for Soluble A1PiZ and Another for Aggregates of A1PiZ

K.B. Kruse, J.L. Brodsky and A.A. McCracken

Mol Biol Cell 2005; In press.     

Autophagy-mediated clearance of huntingtin aggregates triggered by the insulin-signaling pathway

Conditional mouse models of polyglutamine diseases, such as Huntington's disease (HD), have revealed that cells can clear accumulated pathogenic proteins if the continuous production of the mutant transgene is halted. Invariably, the clearance of the protein leads to regression of the disease symptoms in mice. In light of these findings, it is critical to determine the pathway responsible for alleviating this protein accumulation to define targets to fight these diseases. In a functional genetic screen of HD, we found that activation of insulin receptor substrate-2, which mediates the signaling cascades of insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1, leads to a macroautophagy-mediated clearance of the accumulated proteins. The macroautophagy is triggered despite activation of Akt, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and S6 kinase, but still requires proteins previously implicated in macroautophagy, such as Beclin1 and hVps34. These findings indicate that the accumulation of mutant protein can lead to mTOR-independent macroautophagy and that lysosome-mediated degradation of accumulated protein differs from degradation under conditions of starvation.     

Human cytomegalovirus controls a new autophagy-dependent cellular antiviral defense mechanism

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a ubiquitous herpesvirus that remains the major infectious cause of birth defects, as well as being an important opportunistic pathogen. Macroautophagy (hereafter referred to as autophagy) is an evolutionarily conserved process responsible for the degradation of cytoplasmic macromolecules, and the elimination of damaged organelles via a lysosomal pathway. This process is also triggered in organisms by stressful conditions and by certain diseases. Previous observations have suggested that autophagy (also known as xenophagy in this case) may contribute to innate immunity against viral infections. Recent studies on HSV-1, another herpesvirus, have shown that HSV-1 is able to avoid this cellular defense by means of a viral protein, ICP34.5, which antagonizes the host autophagy response. However, it was not known whether HCMV was also able to counteract autophagy. Here, we show that HCMV infection drastically inhibits autophagosome formation in primary human fibroblasts. Autophagy was assessed by GFP-LC3 redistribution, LC3-II and p62 accumulation and electron microscopy. Inhibition of autophagy occurred early in the infection by a mechanism involving viral protein(s). Indeed, only infected cells expressing viral proteins displayed a striking decrease of autophagy; whereas bystander, non-infected cells displayed a level of autophagy similar to that of control cells. HCMV activated the mTOR signaling pathway, and rendered infected cells resistant to rapamycin-induced autophagy. Moreover, infected cells also became resistant to the stimulation of autophagy by lithium chloride, an mTOR-independent inducer of autophagy. These findings suggest that HCMV has developed efficient strategies for blocking the induction of autophagy during infection.     

p62 provides dual cytoprotection against oxidative stress in the retinal pigment epithelium

As a signaling hub, p62/sequestosome plays important roles in cell signaling and degradation of misfolded proteins. p62 has been implicated as an adaptor protein to mediate autophagic clearance of insoluble protein aggregates in age-related diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is characterized by dysfunction of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Our previous studies have shown that cigarette smoke (CS) induces oxidative stress and inhibits the proteasome pathway in cultured human RPE cells, suggesting that p62-mediated autophagy may become the major route to remove impaired proteins under such circumstances. In the present studies, we found that all p62 mRNA variants are abundantly expressed and upregulated by CS induced stress in cultured human RPE cells, yet isoform1 is the major translated form. We also show that p62 silencing exacerbated the CS induced accumulation of damaged proteins, both by suppressing autophagy and by inhibiting the Nrf2 antioxidant response, which in turn, increased protein oxidation. These effects of CS and p62 reduction were further confirmed in mice exposed to CS. We found that over-expression of p62 isoform1, but not its S403A mutant, which lacks affinity for ubiquitinated proteins, reduced misfolded proteins, yet simultaneously promoted an Nrf2-mediated antioxidant response. Thus, p62 provides dual, reciprocal enhancing protection to RPE cells from environmental stress induced protein misfolding and aggregation, by facilitating autophagy and the Nrf2 mediated antioxidant response, which might be a potential therapeutic target against AMD.     

BAG-1 induces autophagy for cardiac cell survival

The Bcl-2 associated athanogene (BAG) family of proteins function as cochaperones by bridging molecules that recruit molecular chaperones to target proteins. BAG-1 provides a physical link between the heat shock proteins Hsc70/Hsp70 and the proteasome to facilitate ubiquitin-proteasome-mediated protein degradation. In addition to the proteasome, protein degradation via autophagy is responsible for maintaining cellular metabolism, organelle homeostasis and redox equilibrium. Our recent report shows that autophagy plays an important role in cardiac adaptation-induced cell survival against ischemia-reperfusion injury in association with the BAG-1 protein. BAG-1 is associated with the autophagosomal membrane protein LC3-II and it may participate in the induction of autophagy via Hsc70. Moreover, another BAG family member, BAG-3, is responsible for the induction of macroautophagy in association with HspB8. These results show the involvement of BAG family members in the induction of autophagy for the degradation of damaged or oxidized proteins to promote cell survival.     

Streptococcus pneumoniae Induces Autophagy through the Inhibition of the PI3K-I/Akt/mTOR Pathway and ROS Hypergeneration in A549 Cells

The present study focused on the action mechanism of S. pneumoniae (Sp) in inducing autophagy in human alveolar epithelial cells. Sp, a gram-positive extracellular bacterium, activates autophagy with considerably increased microtuble-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3) punctation in A549 cells. The accumulation of typical autophagosomes and conjugation of LC3 to phosphatidylethanolamine were observed in Sp-infected cells as an indication of autophagy. Using the pneumolysin (PLY) mutant, we successfully demonstrated that PLY is involved in initiating autophagy without affecting the expression levels of PI3K-III and Beclin1. PLY-mediated autophagy depends on the inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/Akt/mTOR) pathway. Furthermore, Sp could also lead to the reactive oxygen species (ROS) hypergeneration in A549 cells. Taken together, Sp infection-induced autophagy is PLY-mediated through ROS hypergeneration and mTOR inhibition. PI3K-I and rapamycin (autophagy inducers) enhanced bacterial clearance, whereas wortmannin (autophagy inhibitor) and acetylcysteine (ROS inhibitor) reduced intracellular bacteria clearance. Thus, Sp-induced autophagy represents a host-protective mechanism, providing new insight into the pathogenesis of respiratory tract Sp infection.     

Osmotic stress induced toxicity exacerbates Parkinson's associated effects via dysregulation of autophagy in transgenic C. elegans model

The accumulation of aggregate-prone proteins is a major representative of many neurological disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD) wherein the cellular clearance mechanisms, such as the ubiquitin-proteasome and autophagy pathways are impaired. PD, known to be associated with multiple genetic and environmental factors, is characterized by the aggregation of α-synuclein protein and loss of dopaminergic neurons in midbrain. This disease is also associated with other cardiovascular ailments. Herein, we report our findings from studies on the effect of hyper and hypo-osmotic induced toxicity representing hyper and hypotensive condition as an extrinsic epigenetic factor towards modulation of Parkinsonism, using a genetic model Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). Our studies showed that osmotic toxicity had an adverse effect on α-synuclein aggregation, autophagic puncta, lipid content and oxidative stress. Further, we figure that reduced autophagic activity may cause the inefficient clearance of α-synuclein aggregates in osmotic stress toxicity, thereby promoting α-synuclein deposition. Pharmacological induction of autophagy by spermidine proved to be a useful mechanism for protecting cells against the toxic effects of these proteins in such stress conditions. Our studies provide evidence that autophagy is required for the removal of aggregated proteins in these conditions. Studying specific autophagy pathways, we observe that the osmotic stress induced toxicity was largely associated with atg-7 and lgg-1 dependent autophagy pathway, brought together by involvement of mTOR pathway. This represents a unifying pathway to disease in hyper- and hypo-osmotic conditions within PD model of C. elegans.