Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas, CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
Department of Neuroscience and Movement Science, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Autophagy. 2024 Nov;20(11):2589-2590. doi: 10.1080/15548627.2024.2391726. Epub 2024 Aug 17.
Dysregulated macroautophagy/autophagy is one of the hallmarks of aging and has also been linked to higher incidence of several age-associated diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The main cell type affected in AMD is the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), and this disease can lead to central vision loss. Despite affecting around 8.7% of the population between 45-85 years, its etiopathogenesis remains unknown. In our recent manuscript using the pharmacological sodium iodate (SI) model of AMD we identified severe lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP) in the RPE, that leads to autophagy flux blockage and proteostasis defects. Treatment with the natural compound urolithin A (UA) reduces RPE cell death and alleviates vision loss, concurrent with full autophagy restoration. While UA was initially described as a specific mitophagy inducer, we now show that it is also able to promote SQSTM1/p62-dependent lysophagy in the context of lysosomal damage and LMP. Genetic downregulation of SQSTM1/p62 fully abolishes the effect of UA on lysophagy while mitophagy stimulation remains unaffected. In summary, these findings highlight the wide range of pathways modulated by UA and its potential implementation in the management of AMD and other diseases involving lysosomal damage.
自噬功能失调是衰老的标志之一,也与几种与年龄相关的疾病(如年龄相关性黄斑变性 (AMD))的发病率较高有关。AMD 主要受影响的细胞类型是视网膜色素上皮 (RPE),这种疾病会导致中心视力丧失。尽管它影响了 45-85 岁之间约 8.7%的人群,但它的发病机制仍不清楚。在我们最近使用药理学碘酸钠 (SI) AMD 模型的研究中,我们发现 RPE 中存在严重的溶酶体膜通透性 (LMP),这导致自噬通量阻断和蛋白质稳态缺陷。用天然化合物尿石素 A (UA) 治疗可减少 RPE 细胞死亡并缓解视力丧失,同时完全恢复自噬。虽然 UA 最初被描述为一种特异性的线粒体自噬诱导剂,但我们现在表明,在溶酶体损伤和 LMP 的情况下,它还能够促进 SQSTM1/p62 依赖性溶酶体自噬。SQSTM1/p62 的基因下调完全消除了 UA 对溶酶体自噬的作用,而线粒体自噬的刺激仍然不受影响。总之,这些发现强调了 UA 调节的广泛途径及其在 AMD 和其他涉及溶酶体损伤的疾病的管理中的潜在应用。
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