Department of General Surgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, 110032, China.
Cell Death Dis. 2022 Feb 8;13(2):132. doi: 10.1038/s41419-022-04593-3.
Autophagy is a conserved method of quality control in which cytoplasmic contents are degraded via lysosomes. Lipophagy, a form of selective autophagy and a novel type of lipid metabolism, has recently received much attention. Lipophagy is defined as the autophagic degradation of intracellular lipid droplets (LDs). Although much remains unknown, lipophagy appears to play a significant role in many organisms, cell types, metabolic states, and diseases. It participates in the regulation of intracellular lipid storage, intracellular free lipid levels (e.g., fatty acids), and energy balance. However, it remains unclear how intracellular lipids regulate autophagy. Impaired lipophagy can cause cells to become sensitive to death stimuli and may be responsible for the onset of a variety of diseases, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome. Like autophagy, the role of lipophagy in cancer is poorly understood, although analysis of specific autophagy receptors has helped to expand the diversity of chemotherapeutic targets. These studies have stimulated increasing interest in the role of lipophagy in the pathogenesis and treatment of cancer and other human diseases.
自噬是一种细胞内质量控制的保守方法，通过溶酶体降解细胞质内容物。脂噬作用，作为一种选择性自噬的形式和一种新的脂质代谢类型，最近受到了广泛关注。脂噬作用被定义为细胞内脂滴（LDs）的自噬降解。尽管还有很多未知，但脂噬作用似乎在许多生物、细胞类型、代谢状态和疾病中发挥着重要作用。它参与调节细胞内脂质储存、细胞内游离脂质水平（如脂肪酸）和能量平衡。然而，目前尚不清楚细胞内脂质如何调节自噬。脂噬作用受损会导致细胞对死亡刺激变得敏感，可能是导致多种疾病（包括非酒精性脂肪肝和代谢综合征）发生的原因。与自噬一样，脂噬作用在癌症中的作用还不太清楚，尽管对特定自噬受体的分析有助于扩大化疗靶点的多样性。这些研究激发了人们对脂噬作用在癌症和其他人类疾病发病机制和治疗中的作用的日益浓厚的兴趣。
