bims-auttor Biomed News
on Autophagy and mTOR
Issue of 2021–09–12
27 papers selected by
Viktor Korolchuk, Newcastle University
  1. Molecular targets and approaches to restore autophagy and lysosomal capacity in neurodegenerative disorders.
  2. NOP53 Suppresses Autophagy through ZKSCAN3-Dependent and -Independent Pathways.
  3. The expanding role of Atg8.
  4. The OMM-severed and IMM-ubiquitinated mitochondria are intermediates of mitochondrial proteotoxicity-induced autophagy in PRKN/parkin-deficient cells.
  5. A Perspective on the Role of Autophagy in Cancer.
  6. Structural basis for membrane recruitment of ATG16L1 by WIPI2 in Autophagy.
  7. Autophagy Dysfunction as a Phenotypic Readout in hiPSC-Derived Neuronal Cell Models of Neurodegenerative Diseases.
  8. An alcoholic extract of Thuja orientalis L. leaves inhibits autophagy by specifically targeting pro-autophagy PIK3C3/VPS34 complex.
  9. Macroautophagy and aging: The impact of cellular recycling on health and longevity.
  10. They Might Cut It-Lysosomes and Autophagy in Mitotic Progression.
  11. Fission yeast TOR complex 1 phosphorylates Psk1 through evolutionarily conserved interaction mediated by the TOS motif.
  12. Rag GTPases suppress PRL-3 degradation and predict poor clinical diagnosis of cancer patients with low PRL-3 mRNA expression.
  13. Induction of STK11-dependent cytoprotective autophagy in breast cancer cells upon honokiol treatment.
  14. LRRK2 along the Golgi and lysosome connection: a jamming situation.
  15. Increased mitochondrial calcium uptake and concomitant mitochondrial activity by presenilin loss promotes mTORC1 signaling to drive neurodegeneration.
  16. Autophagy in metabolic disease and ageing.
  17. Diphthamide promotes TOR signaling by increasing the translation of proteins in the TORC1 pathway.
  18. Epilepsy-causing Reelin mutations result in impaired secretion and intracellular degradation of mutant proteins.
  19. ATG101 Degradation by HUWE1-Mediated Ubiquitination Impairs Autophagy and Reduces Survival in Cancer Cells.
  20. Three dimensions of autophagy in regulating tumor growth: Cell survival/death, cell proliferation, and tumor dormancy.
  21. Macrophages target Listeria monocytogenes by two discrete non-canonical autophagy pathways.
  22. A-24, a steroidal saponin from Allium chinense, induced apoptosis, autophagy and migration inhibition in p53 wild-type and p53-deficient gastric cancer cells.
  23. Mitochondria-affecting small molecules ameliorate proteostasis defects associated with neurodegenerative diseases.
  24. Pep4-dependent microautophagy is required for post-ER degradation of GPI-anchored proteins.
  25. Liver-specific deletion of mechanistic target of rapamycin does not protect against acetaminophen-induced liver injury in mice.
  26. USP5 attenuates NLRP3 inflammasome activation by promoting autophagic degradation of NLRP3.
  27. Anti-aging: senolytics or gerostatics (unconventional view).
  1. Mol Aspects Med. 2021 Sep 03. pii: S0098-2997(21)00078-9. [Epub ahead of print] 101018
    Molecular targets and approaches to restore autophagy and lysosomal capacity in neurodegenerative disorders.
    Julie Bastien, Suchithra Menon, Mirko Messa, Beat Nyfeler.
      Autophagy is a catabolic process that promotes cellular fitness by clearing aggregated protein species, pathogens and damaged organelles through lysosomal degradation. The autophagic process is particularly important in the nervous system where post-mitotic neurons rely heavily on protein and organelle quality control in order to maintain cellular health throughout the lifetime of the organism. Alterations of autophagy and lysosomal function are hallmarks of various neurodegenerative disorders. In this review, we conceptualize some of the mechanistic and genetic evidence pointing towards autophagy and lysosomal dysfunction as a causal driver of neurodegeneration. Furthermore, we discuss rate-limiting pathway nodes and potential approaches to restore pathway activity, from autophagy initiation, cargo sequestration to lysosomal capacity.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mam.2021.101018
  2. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Aug 27. pii: 9318. [Epub ahead of print]22(17):
    NOP53 Suppresses Autophagy through ZKSCAN3-Dependent and -Independent Pathways.
    Young-Eun Cho, Yong-Jun Kim, Sun Lee, Jae-Hoon Park.
      Autophagy is an evolutionally conserved process that recycles aged or damaged intracellular components through a lysosome-dependent pathway. Although this multistep process is propagated in the cytoplasm by the orchestrated activity of the mTOR complex, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, and a set of autophagy-related proteins (ATGs), recent investigations have suggested that autophagy is tightly regulated by nuclear events. Thus, it is conceivable that the nucleolus, as a stress-sensing and -responding intranuclear organelle, plays a role in autophagy regulation, but much is unknown concerning the nucleolar controls in autophagy. In this report, we show a novel nucleolar-cytoplasmic axis that regulates the cytoplasmic autophagy process: nucleolar protein NOP53 regulates the autophagic flux through two divergent pathways, the ZKSCAN3-dependent and -independent pathways. In the ZKSCAN3-dependent pathway, NOP53 transcriptionally activates a master autophagy suppressor ZKSCAN3, thereby inhibiting MAP1LC3B/LC3B induction and autophagy propagation. In the ZKSCAN3-independent pathway, NOP53 physically interacts with histone H3 to dephosphorylate S10 of H3, which, in turn, transcriptionally downregulates the ATG7 and ATG12 expressions. Our results identify nucleolar protein NOP53 as an upstream regulator of the autophagy process.
    Keywords:  LC3B; NOP53; ZKSCAN3; autophagy; nucleolus
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22179318
  3. Autophagy. 2021 Sep 05. 1-2
    The expanding role of Atg8.
    Wayne D Hawkins, Daniel J Klionsky.
      It would be quite convenient if every protein had one distinct function, one distinct role in just a single cellular process. In the field of macroautophagy/autophagy, however, we are increasingly finding that this is not the case; several autophagy proteins have two or more roles within the process of autophagy and many even "moonlight" as functional members of entirely different cellular processes. This is perhaps best exemplified by the Atg8-family proteins. These dynamic proteins have already been reported to serve several functions both within autophagy (membrane tethering, membrane fusion, binding to cargo receptors, binding to autophagy machinery) and beyond (LC3-associated phagocytosis, formation of EDEMosomes, immune signaling) but as Maruyama and colleagues suggest in their recent report, this list of functions may not yet be complete.
    Keywords:  Autophagosome; autophagy; lipidation; membrane expansion; phagophore
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2021.1967566
  4. Autophagy. 2021 Sep 05. 1-3
    The OMM-severed and IMM-ubiquitinated mitochondria are intermediates of mitochondrial proteotoxicity-induced autophagy in PRKN/parkin-deficient cells.
    Yumiko Oshima, Nicolas Verhoeven, Etienne Cartier, Mariusz Karbowski.
      Among other mechanisms, mitochondrial membrane dynamics including mitochondrial fission and fusion, and the activity of the ubiquitin (Ub)-proteasome system (UPS) both are critical for maintaining mitochondrial function. To advance our knowledge of the role of mitochondrial fission, the UPS, and how they coordinatively affect mitochondrial response to proteotoxicity, we analyzed mitochondrial ubiquitination and mitochondria-specific autophagy (mitophagy) in E3 Ub ligase PRKN/parkin-expressing and -deficient cells. Through imaging, biochemical, and genetic analyses, we found that in a model of acute reduction of mitochondrial translation fidelity (MTF) some population of mitochondria within a single cell are enriched, while some showed reduced levels of CYCS (cytochrome c, somatic) and CPOX (coproporphyrinogen oxidase) proteins, both located in the intermembrane space (IMS); henceforth called "mosaic distribution". Formation of mosaic mitochondria requires mitochondrial fission and active mitochondrial translation. In cell lines deficient in PRKN activity, this process is followed by severing the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM) and ubiquitination of the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) proteins (including TRAP1 and CPOX), recruitment of autophagy receptors, and formation of mito-autophagosomes. In contrast, in PRKN-expressing cells, mitochondria with high CYCS and CPOX levels are preferentially targeted by PRKN, leading to OMM ubiquitination and canonical PRKN-PINK1-mediated autophagy.
    Keywords:  DRP1; Parkin; mitochondria; mitochondrial translation; mitophagy; ubiquitin
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2021.1964887
  5. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis. 2021 Sep 01. pii: S0925-4439(21)00195-2. [Epub ahead of print] 166262
    A Perspective on the Role of Autophagy in Cancer.
    Aileen R Ariosa, Vikramjit Lahiri, Yuchen Lei, Ying Yang, Zhangyuan Yin, Zhihai Zhang, Daniel J Klionsky.
      Autophagy refers to a ubiquitous set of catabolic pathways required to achieve proper cellular homeostasis. Aberrant autophagy has been implicated in a multitude of diseases including cancer. In this review, we highlight pioneering and groundbreaking research that centers on delineating the role of autophagy in cancer initiation, proliferation and metastasis. First, we discuss the autophagy-related (ATG) proteins and their respective roles in the de novo formation of autophagosomes and the subsequent delivery of cargo to the lysosome for recycling. Next, we touch upon the history of cancer research that centers upon ATG proteins and regulatory mechanisms that control an appropriate autophagic response and how these are altered in the diseased state. Then, we discuss the various discoveries that led to the idea of autophagy as a double-edged sword when it comes to cancer therapy. This review also briefly narrates how different types of autophagy-selective macroautophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy, have been linked to different cancers. Overall, these studies build upon a steadfast trajectory that aims to solve the monumentally daunting challenge of finding a cure for many types of cancer by modulating autophagy either through inhibition or induction.
    Keywords:  Autophagy; cancer; chaperone-mediated autophagy; history; selective autophagy; treatment
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2021.166262
  6. Elife. 2021 Sep 10. pii: e70372. [Epub ahead of print]10
    Structural basis for membrane recruitment of ATG16L1 by WIPI2 in Autophagy.
    Lisa M Strong, Chunmei Chang, Julia F Riley, C Alexander Boecker, Thomas G Flower, Cosmo Z Buffalo, Xuefeng Ren, Andrea Kh Stavoe, Erika Lf Holzbaur, James H Hurley.
      Autophagy is a cellular process that degrades cytoplasmic cargo by engulfing it in a double membrane vesicle, known as the autophagosome, and delivering it to the lysosome. The ATG12-5-16L1 complex is responsible for conjugating members of the ubiquitin-like ATG8 protein family to phosphatidylethanolamine in the growing autophagosomal membrane, known as the phagophore. ATG12-5-16L1 is recruited to the phagophore by a subset of the phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate-binding seven bladed â-propeller WIPI proteins. We determined the crystal structure of WIPI2d in complex with the WIPI2 interacting region (W2IR) of ATG16L1 comprising residues 207-230 at 1.85 Å resolution. The structure shows that the ATG16L1 W2IR adopts an alpha helical conformation and binds in an electropositive and hydrophobic groove between WIPI2 â-propeller blades 2 and 3. Mutation of residues at the interface reduces or blocks the recruitment of ATG12-5-16L1 and the conjugation of the ATG8 protein LC3B to synthetic membranes. Interface mutants show a decrease in starvation-induced autophagy. Comparisons across the four human WIPIs suggest that WIPI1 and 2 belong to a W2IR-binding subclass responsible for localizing ATG12-5-16L1 and driving ATG8 lipidation, whilst WIPI3 and 4 belong to a second W34IR-binding subclass responsible for localizing ATG2, and so directing lipid supply to the nascent phagophore. The structure provides a framework for understanding the regulatory node connecting two central events in autophagy initiation, the action of the autophagic PI 3-kinase complex on the one hand, and ATG8 lipidation on the other.
    Keywords:  cell biology; human
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.70372
  7. Methods Mol Biol. 2021 Sep 07.
    Autophagy Dysfunction as a Phenotypic Readout in hiPSC-Derived Neuronal Cell Models of Neurodegenerative Diseases.
    Congxin Sun, Tatiana R Rosenstock, Malkiel A Cohen, Sovan Sarkar.
      Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved catabolic pathway for the degradation of cytoplasmic constituents in eukaryotic cells. It is the primary disposal route for selective removal of undesirable cellular materials like aggregation-prone proteins and damaged organelles for maintaining cellular homeostasis, and for bulk degradation of intracellular macromolecules and recycling the breakdown products for providing energy homeostasis during starvation. These functions of autophagy are attributed to cellular survival and thus pertinent for human health; however, malfunction of this process is detrimental to the cells, particularly for post-mitotic neurons. Thus, basal autophagy is vital for maintaining neuronal homeostasis, whereas autophagy dysfunction contributes to neurodegeneration. Defective autophagy has been demonstrated in several neurodegenerative diseases wherein pharmacological induction of autophagy is beneficial in many of these disease models. Elucidating the mechanisms underlying defective autophagy is imperative for the development of therapies targeting this process. Disease-affected human neuronal cells can be established from patient-derived human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) that provide a clinically relevant platform for studying disease mechanisms and drug discovery. Thus, modeling autophagy dysfunction as a phenotypic readout in patient-derived neurons provides a more direct platform for investigating the mechanisms underlying defective autophagy and evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of autophagy inducers. Toward this, several hiPSC-derived neuronal cell models of neurodegenerative diseases have been employed. In this review, we highlight the key methodologies pertaining to hiPSC maintenance and neuronal differentiation, and studying autophagy at an endogenous level in hiPSC-derived neuronal cells.
    Keywords:  Autophagosome; Autophagy; Autophagy dysfunction; Autophagy inducer; Autophagy substrate; Human induced pluripotent stem cells; LC3; Neurodegenerative disease; Neuronal differentiation; hiPSC-derived neurons; p62
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/7651_2021_420
  8. Sci Rep. 2021 Sep 06. 11(1): 17712
    An alcoholic extract of Thuja orientalis L. leaves inhibits autophagy by specifically targeting pro-autophagy PIK3C3/VPS34 complex.
    Juneyoung Jung, Yoomi Chun, Young Pyo Jang, Myung Sook Oh, Jeong Hee Kim, Joungmok Kim.
      Autophagy is a lysosome-dependent degradation program to maintain cellular homeostasis in response to a variety of stressful conditions, such as long-lived or non-functional subcellular organelles, protein aggregates, nutrient limitation, and virus/bacteria infection. Accordingly, dysregulation of autophagy is closely associated with many human pathophysiological conditions, such as neurodegenerative diseases, aging, and cancer, and autophagy is highlighted as an important therapeutic target for these human diseases. In autophagy process, PIK3C3/VPS34 complex plays important roles in autophagosome biogenesis. Accumulating evidences that inhibition of PIK3C3/VPS34 complex successfully blocks autophagy make the complex as an attractive target for the development of autophagy-specific inhibitors. However, considering that various forms of PIK3C3/VPS34 complex exist and they are involved in many different cellular functions, the targeting of the pro-autophagy PIK3C3/VPS34 complex is required to specifically inhibit autophagy. To identify autophagy inhibitors targeting the pro-autophagy complex, we have performed the screening of a customized natural product library consisting of 35 herbal extracts which are widely used in the oriental medicine as anti-inflammation and/or anti-tumor reagents. We discovered that an alcoholic extract of Thuja orientalis L. leaves inhibits pro-autophagy complex formation by disrupting the interaction between autophagy-specific factor, ATG14L, and the complex core unit Vps34-Beclin 1 in vitro. Also, it inhibits the nutrient starvation induced autophagy and diminished pro-autophagy PIK3C3/VPS34 complex containing either ATG14L or UVRAG in several cell lines. Our results strongly suggest that Thuja orientalis L. leave extract functions as an autophagy-specific inhibitor not decreasing the complex activity nor the protein level, but preventing protein-protein interaction between autophagy-specific factor (ATG14L and UVRAG) and PIK3C3/VPS34 complex core unit, Vps34-Beclin 1, thereby specifically depleting the pro-autophagy complex to inhibit autophagy.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97216-4
  9. Mol Aspects Med. 2021 Sep 07. pii: S0098-2997(21)00080-7. [Epub ahead of print] 101020
    Macroautophagy and aging: The impact of cellular recycling on health and longevity.
    Jose L Nieto-Torres, Malene Hansen.
      Aging is associated with many deleterious changes at the cellular level, including the accumulation of potentially toxic components that can have devastating effects on health. A key protective mechanism to this end is the cellular recycling process called autophagy. During autophagy, damaged or surplus cellular components are delivered to acidic vesicles called lysosomes, that secure degradation and recycling of the components. Numerous links between autophagy and aging exist. Autophagy declines with age, and increasing evidence suggests that this reduction plays important roles in both physiological aging and the development of age-associated disorders. Studies in pharmacologically and genetically manipulated model organisms indicate that defects in autophagy promote age-related diseases, and conversely, that enhancement of autophagy has beneficial effects on both healthspan and lifespan. Here, we review our current understanding of the role of autophagy in different physiological processes and their molecular links with aging and age-related diseases. We also highlight some recent advances in the field that could accelerate the development of autophagy-based therapeutic interventions.
    Keywords:  AMPK; Aging; Autophagy; C. elegans; Healthspan; Lifespan; Neurodegeneration; mTOR
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mam.2021.101020
  10. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 ;9 727538
    They Might Cut It-Lysosomes and Autophagy in Mitotic Progression.
    Saara Hämälistö, Jonathan Stahl-Meyer, Marja Jäättelä.
      The division of one cell into two looks so easy, as if it happens without any control at all. Mitosis, the hallmark of mammalian life is, however, tightly regulated from the early onset to the very last phase. Despite the tight control, errors in mitotic division occur frequently and they may result in various chromosomal instabilities and malignancies. The flow of events during mitotic progression where the chromosomes condensate and rearrange with the help of the cytoskeletal network has been described in great detail. Plasma membrane dynamics and endocytic vesicle movement upon deadhesion and reattachment of dividing cells are also demonstrated to be functionally important for the mitotic integrity. Other cytoplasmic organelles, such as autophagosomes and lysosomes, have until recently been considered merely as passive bystanders in this process. Accordingly, at the onset of nuclear envelope breakdown in prometaphase, the number of autophagic structures and lysosomes is reduced and the bulk autophagic machinery is suppressed for the duration of mitosis. This is believed to ensure that the exposed nuclear components are not unintentionally delivered to autophagic degradation. With the evolving technologies that allow the detection of subtle alterations in cytoplasmic organelles, our understanding of the small-scale regulation of intracellular organelles has deepened rapidly and we discuss here recent discoveries revealing unexpected roles for autophagy and lysosomes in the preservation of genomic integrity during mitosis.
    Keywords:  autophagy; cathepsin B; chromosome segregation; lysosome; mitosis; spindle
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.727538
  11. J Cell Sci. 2021 Sep 09. pii: jcs.258865. [Epub ahead of print]
    Fission yeast TOR complex 1 phosphorylates Psk1 through evolutionarily conserved interaction mediated by the TOS motif.
    Yuichi Morozumi, Ai Hishinuma, Suguru Furusawa, Fajar Sofyantoro, Hisashi Tatebe, Kazuhiro Shiozaki.
      TOR complex 1 (TORC1) is a multi-subunit protein kinase complex that controls cellular growth in response to environmental cues. The regulatory subunits of mammalian TORC1 (mTORC1) include RAPTOR, which recruits mTORC1 substrates, such as S6K1 and 4EBP1, by interacting with their TOR signaling (TOS) motif. Despite the evolutionary conservation of TORC1, no TOS motif has been described in lower eukaryotes. Here, we show that the fission yeast S6 kinase Psk1 contains a TOS motif that interacts with Mip1, a RAPTOR ortholog. The TOS motif in Psk1 resembles those in mammals, including the conserved Phe and Asp residues essential for the Mip1 interaction and TORC1-dependent phosphorylation of Psk1. The binding of the TOS motif to Mip1 is dependent on Mip1 Tyr-533, whose equivalent in RAPTOR is known to interact with the TOS motif in their co-crystals. Furthermore, we utilized the mip1-Y533A mutation to screen the known TORC1 substrates in fission yeast and successfully identified Atg13 as a novel TOS motif-containing substrate. These results strongly suggest that the TOS motif represents an evolutionarily conserved mechanism of the substrate recognition by TORC1.
    Keywords:  Fission yeast; Mip1; TOR complex 1 (TORC1); TOS motif
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.258865
  12. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2021 Aug 31. pii: S0006-291X(21)01272-9. [Epub ahead of print]576 108-116
    Rag GTPases suppress PRL-3 degradation and predict poor clinical diagnosis of cancer patients with low PRL-3 mRNA expression.
    Yin Shi, Shengfeng Xu, Natalie Y L Ngoi, Yuanjian Hui, Zu Ye.
      Ras-related GTP binding (Rag) GTPases are required to activate mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), which plays a central role in cell growth and metabolism and is considered as one of the most important oncogenic pathways. Therefore, Rag GTPases have been speculated to play a pro-cancer role via mTOR induction. However, aside from stimulation of mTOR signaling, firm links connecting Rag GTPase activity and their downstream effectors with cancer progression, remain largely unreported. In this study, we reported a novel link between RagB/C and a known oncoprotein phosphatase of regenerating liver-3 (PRL-3) by screening 22 pairs of tumors and their adjacent normal tissues from gastric, liver and lung cancers, and validating our findings in cancer cell lines with ectopic RagB/C expression. RagB/C was found to enhance PRL-3 stability by modulating two major cellular protein degradation pathways: lysosomal-autophagy and ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). Functionally, we identified the correlation between RagB/C expression with poor clinical outcomes in breast or colon cancer patients who also showed low PRL-3 mRNA expression from data retrieved from TCGA datasets, highlighting the potential relevance of Rag GTPase and PRL-3 mRNA in combination as a prognostic clinical biomarker.
    Keywords:  PRL-3; Protein stability; Rag GTPases
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2021.08.090
  13. Cell Death Discov. 2020 Sep 06. 6(1): 81
    Induction of STK11-dependent cytoprotective autophagy in breast cancer cells upon honokiol treatment.
    Nethaji Muniraj, Sumit Siddharth, Marey Shriver, Arumugam Nagalingam, Sheetal Parida, Juhyung Woo, Justin Elsey, Kathleen Gabrielson, Edward Gabrielson, Jack L Arbiser, Neeraj K Saxena, Dipali Sharma.
      Cancer cells hijack autophagy pathway to evade anti-cancer therapeutics. Many molecular signaling pathways associated with drug-resistance converge on autophagy induction. Honokiol (HNK), a natural phenolic compound purified from Magnolia grandiflora, has recently been shown to impede breast tumorigenesis and, in the present study, we investigated whether breast cancer cells evoke autophagy to modulate therapeutic efficacy and functional networks of HNK. Indeed, breast cancer cells exhibit increased autophagosomes-accumulation, MAP1LC3B-II/LC3B-II-conversion, expression of ATG proteins as well as elevated fusion of autophagosomes and lysosomes upon HNK treatment. Breast cancer cells treated with HNK demonstrate significant growth inhibition and apoptotic induction, and these biological processes are blunted by macroautophagy/autophagy. Consequently, inhibiting autophagosome formation, abrogating autophagosome-lysosome fusion or genetic-knockout of BECN1 and ATG7 effectively increase HNK-mediated apoptotic induction and growth inhibition. Next, we explored the functional impact of tumor suppressor STK11 in autophagy induction in HNK-treated cells. STK11-silencing abrogates LC3B-II-conversion, and blocks autophagosome/lysosome fusion and lysosomal activity as illustrated by LC3B-Rab7 co-staining and DQ-BSA assay. Our results exemplify the cytoprotective nature of autophagy invoked in HNK-treated breast cancer cells and put forth the notion that a combined strategy of autophagy inhibition with HNK would be more effective. Indeed, HNK and chloroquine (CQ) show synergistic inhibition of breast cancer cells and HNK-CQ combination treatment effectively inhibits breast tumorigenesis and metastatic progression. Tumor-dissociated cells from HNK-CQ treated tumors exhibit abrogated invasion and migration potential. Together, these results implicate that breast cancer cells undergo cytoprotective autophagy to circumvent HNK and a combined treatment with HNK and CQ can be a promising therapeutic strategy for breast cancer.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41420-020-00315-w
  14. Biochem Soc Trans. 2021 Sep 08. pii: BST20201146. [Epub ahead of print]
    LRRK2 along the Golgi and lysosome connection: a jamming situation.
    Giovanni Piccoli, Mattia Volta.
      Parkinson's disease (PD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder, clinically characterized by bradykinesia, rigidity, and resting tremor. Leucine-Rich Repeat Kinase 2 (LRRK2) is a large, multidomain protein containing two enzymatic domains. Missense mutations in its coding sequence are amongst the most common causes of familial PD. The physiological and pathological impact of LRRK2 is still obscure, but accumulating evidence supports a role for LRRK2 in membrane and vesicle trafficking, mainly functioning in the endosome-recycling system, (synaptic) vesicle trafficking, autophagy, and lysosome biology. LRRK2 binds and phosphorylates key regulators of the endomembrane systems and is dynamically localized at the Golgi. The impact of LRRK2 on the Golgi may reverberate throughout the entire endomembrane system and occur in multiple intersecting pathways, including endocytosis, autophagy, and lysosomal function. This would lead to overall dysregulation of cellular homeostasis and protein catabolism, leading to neuronal dysfunction and accumulation of toxic protein species, thus underlying the possible neurotoxic effect of LRRK2 mutations causing PD.
    Keywords:  Golgi apparatus; LRRK2; lysosomes
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20201146
  15. Aging Cell. 2021 Sep 09. e13472
    Increased mitochondrial calcium uptake and concomitant mitochondrial activity by presenilin loss promotes mTORC1 signaling to drive neurodegeneration.
    Kerry C Ryan, Zahra Ashkavand, Shaarika Sarasija, Jocelyn T Laboy, Rohan Samarakoon, Kenneth R Norman.
      Metabolic dysfunction and protein aggregation are common characteristics that occur in age-related neurodegenerative disease. However, the mechanisms underlying these abnormalities remain poorly understood. We have found that mutations in the gene encoding presenilin in Caenorhabditis elegans, sel-12, results in elevated mitochondrial activity that drives oxidative stress and neuronal dysfunction. Mutations in the human presenilin genes are the primary cause of familial Alzheimer's disease. Here, we demonstrate that loss of SEL-12/presenilin results in the hyperactivation of the mTORC1 pathway. This hyperactivation is caused by elevated mitochondrial calcium influx and, likely, the associated increase in mitochondrial activity. Reducing mTORC1 activity improves proteostasis defects and neurodegenerative phenotypes associated with loss of SEL-12 function. Consistent with high mTORC1 activity, we find that SEL-12 loss reduces autophagosome formation, and this reduction is prevented by limiting mitochondrial calcium uptake. Moreover, the improvements of proteostasis and neuronal defects in sel-12 mutants due to mTORC1 inhibition require the induction of autophagy. These results indicate that mTORC1 hyperactivation exacerbates the defects in proteostasis and neuronal function in sel-12 mutants and demonstrate a critical role of presenilin in promoting neuronal health.
    Keywords:   Caenorhabditis elegans ; Alzheimer; aging; calcium; mTORC1; mitochondria; presenilin
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13472
  16. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2021 Sep 10.
    Autophagy in metabolic disease and ageing.
    Munehiro Kitada, Daisuke Koya.
      Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved, lysosome-dependent catabolic process whereby cytoplasmic components, including damaged organelles, protein aggregates and lipid droplets, are degraded and their components recycled. Autophagy has an essential role in maintaining cellular homeostasis in response to intracellular stress; however, the efficiency of autophagy declines with age and overnutrition can interfere with the autophagic process. Therefore, conditions such as sarcopenic obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) that are characterized by metabolic derangement and intracellular stresses (including oxidative stress, inflammation and endoplasmic reticulum stress) also involve the accumulation of damaged cellular components. These conditions are prevalent in ageing populations. For example, sarcopenia is an age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength that is involved in the pathogenesis of both insulin resistance and T2DM, particularly in elderly people. Impairment of autophagy results in further aggravation of diabetes-related metabolic derangements in insulin target tissues, including the liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, as well as in pancreatic β-cells. This Review summarizes the role of autophagy in the pathogenesis of metabolic diseases associated with or occurring in the context of ageing, including insulin resistance, T2DM and sarcopenic obesity, and describes its potential as a therapeutic target.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-021-00551-9
  17. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Sep 14. pii: e2104577118. [Epub ahead of print]118(37):
    Diphthamide promotes TOR signaling by increasing the translation of proteins in the TORC1 pathway.
    Yugang Zhang, Zhewang Lin, Julia Zhu, Miao Wang, Hening Lin.
      Diphthamide, a modification found only on translation elongation factor 2 (EF2), was proposed to suppress -1 frameshifting in translation. Although diphthamide is conserved among all eukaryotes, exactly what proteins are affected by diphthamide deletion is not clear in cells. Through genome-wide profiling for a potential -1 frameshifting site, we identified that the target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1)/mammalian TORC1 (mTORC1) signaling pathway is affected by deletion of diphthamide. Diphthamide deficiency in yeast suppresses the translation of TORC1-activating proteins Vam6 and Rtc1. Interestingly, TORC1 signaling also promotes diphthamide biosynthesis, suggesting that diphthamide forms a positive feedback loop to promote translation under nutrient-rich conditions. Our results provide an explanation for why diphthamide is evolutionarily conserved and why diphthamide deletion can cause severe developmental defects.
    Keywords:  TOR signaling; diphthamide; translation; −1 frameshifting
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2104577118
  18. Hum Mol Genet. 2021 Sep 11. pii: ddab271. [Epub ahead of print]
    Epilepsy-causing Reelin mutations result in impaired secretion and intracellular degradation of mutant proteins.
    Emanuela Dazzo, Carlo Nobile.
      Autosomal dominant lateral temporal epilepsy (ADLTE) is a genetically heterogeneous neurologic disorder clinically characterized by focal seizures with auditory symptoms and/or aphasia. About 20% of ADLTE families segregate disease-causing heterozygous mutations in RELN, a brain-expressed gene encoding the secreted protein Reelin. Using a cell-based secretion assay, we show that pathogenic RELN mutations abolish or significantly reduce secretion of mutant proteins, and that this secretion defect results from impaired trafficking of mutant Reelin along the secretory pathway. Confocal immunofluorescence analysis of transiently transfected cells shows that Reelin mutant proteins are degraded by the autophagy system, as revealed by increased formation of autophagosomes immunoreacting with the autophagy markers p62 and LC3. In addition, LC3 immunoblotting shows a significant increase of autophagy flux due to mutant overexpression. Finally, we show that the secretion defect of mutant proteins can be partially rescued by small-molecule correctors. Altogether, these results suggest that Reelin mutant proteins are not properly secreted and that they are degraded through the autophagy pathway.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddab271
  19. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Aug 25. pii: 9182. [Epub ahead of print]22(17):
    ATG101 Degradation by HUWE1-Mediated Ubiquitination Impairs Autophagy and Reduces Survival in Cancer Cells.
    JaeYung Lee, Jiyea Kim, Jeongeun Shin, YongHyun Kang, Jungwon Choi, Heesun Cheong.
      Autophagy is a critical cytoprotective mechanism against stress, which is initiated by the protein kinase Unc-51-like kinase 1 (ULK1) complex. Autophagy plays a role in both inhibiting the progression of diseases and facilitating pathogenesis, so it is critical to elucidate the mechanisms regulating individual components of the autophagy machinery under various conditions. Here, we examined whether ULK1 complex component autophagy-related protein 101 (ATG101) is downregulated via ubiquitination, and whether this in turn suppresses autophagy activity in cancer cells. Knockout of ATG101 in cancer cells using CRISPR resulted in severe growth retardation and lower survival under nutrient starvation. Transfection of mutant ATG101 revealed that the C-terminal region is a key domain of ubiquitination, while co-immunoprecipitation and knockdown experiments revealed that HECT, UBA and WWE domain containing E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1(HUWE1) is a major E3 ubiquitin ligase targeting ATG101. Protein levels of ATG101 was more stable and the related-autophagy activity was higher in HUWE1-depleted cancer cells compared to wild type (WT) controls, indicating that HUWE1-mediated ubiquitination promotes ATG101 degradation. Moreover, enhanced autophagy in HUWE1-depleted cancer cells was reversed by siRNA-mediated ATG101 knockdown. Stable ATG101 level in HUWE1-depleted cells was a strong driver of autophagosome formation similar to upregulation of the known HUWE1 substrate WD repeat domain, phosphoinositide interacting 2 (WIPI2). Cellular survival rates were higher in HUWE1-knockdown cancer cells compared to controls, while concomitant siRNA-mediated ATG101 knockdown tends to increase apoptosis rate. Collectively, these results suggest that HUWE1 normally serves to suppress autophagy by ubiquitinating and triggering degradation of ATG101 and WIPI2, which in turn represses the survival of cancer cells. Accordingly, ATG101-mediated autophagy may play a critical role in overcoming metabolic stress, thereby contributing to the growth, survival, and treatment resistance of certain cancers.
    Keywords:  E3 ubiquitin ligase; HECT, UBA and WWE domain containing E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1(HUWE1); Unc-51-like kinase 1(ULK1); WD repeat domain, phosphoinositide interacting 2 (WIPI2); autophagy; autophagy-related gene 101(ATG101); cancer; mitophagy; ubiquitination
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22179182
  20. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis. 2021 Sep 03. pii: S0925-4439(21)00198-8. [Epub ahead of print] 166265
    Three dimensions of autophagy in regulating tumor growth: Cell survival/death, cell proliferation, and tumor dormancy.
    Yongqiang Chen, Spencer B Gibson.
      Autophagy is an intracellular lysosomal degradation process involved in multiple facets of cancer biology. Various dimensions of autophagy are associated with tumor growth and cancer progression, and here we focus on the dimensions involved in regulation of cell survival/cell death, cell proliferation and tumor dormancy. The first dimension of autophagy supports cell survival under stress within tumors and under certain contexts drives cell death, impacting tumor growth. The second dimension of autophagy promotes proliferation through directly regulating cell cycle or indirectly maintaining metabolism, increasing tumor growth. The third dimension of autophagy facilitates tumor cell dormancy, contributing to cancer treatment resistance and cancer recurrence. The intricate relationship between these three dimensions of autophagy influences the extent of tumor growth and cancer progression. In this review, we summarize the roles of the three dimensions of autophagy in tumor growth and cancer progression, and discuss unanswered questions in these fields.
    Keywords:  Autophagy; Cell death; Cell survival; Proliferation; Tumor dormacy; Tumor growth
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2021.166265
  21. Autophagy. 2021 Sep 05. 1-15
    Macrophages target Listeria monocytogenes by two discrete non-canonical autophagy pathways.
    Alexander Gluschko, Alina Farid, Marc Herb, Daniela Grumme, Martin Krönke, Michael Schramm.
      Non-canonical autophagy pathways decorate single-membrane vesicles with Atg8-family proteins such as MAP1LC3/LC3 (microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3). Phagosomes containing the bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes (L.m.) can be targeted by a non-canonical autophagy pathway called LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP), which substantially contributes to the anti-listerial activity of macrophages and immunity. We here characterized a second non-canonical autophagy pathway targeting L.m.-containing phagosomes, which is induced by damage caused to the phagosomal membrane by the pore-forming toxin of L.m., listeriolysin O. This pore-forming toxin-induced non-canonical autophagy pathway (PINCA) was the only autophagic pathway evoked in tissue macrophages deficient for the NADPH oxidase CYBB/NOX2 that produces the reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are required for LAP induction. Similarly, also bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) exclusively targeted L.m. by PINCA as they completely failed to induce LAP because of insufficient production of ROS through CYBB, in part, due to low expression of some CYBB complex subunits. Priming of BMDM with proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF and IFNG/IFNγ increased ROS production by CYBB and endowed them with the ability to target L.m. by LAP. Targeting of L.m. by LAP remained relatively rare, though, preventing LAP from substantially contributing to the anti-listerial activity of BMDM. Similar to LAP, the targeting of L.m.-containing phagosomes by PINCA promoted their fusion with lysosomes. Surprisingly, however, this did not substantially contribute to anti-listerial activity of BMDM. Thus, in contrast to LAP, PINCA does not have clear anti-listerial function suggesting that the two different non-canonical autophagy pathways targeting L.m. may have discrete functions.Abbreviations: actA/ActA: actin assembly-inducing protein A; ATG: autophagy-related; BMDM: Bone marrow-derived macrophages; CALCOCO2/NDP52: calcium-binding and coiled-coil domain-containing protein 2; CYBA/p22phox: cytochrome b-245 light chain; CYBB/NOX2: cytochrome b(558) subunit beta; E. coli: Escherichia coli; IFNG/IFNγ: interferon gamma; L.m.: Listeria monocytogenes; LAP: LC3-associated phagocytosis; LGALS: galectin; LLO: listeriolysin O; MAP1LC3/LC3: microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3; NCF1/p47phox: neutrophil cytosol factor 1; NCF2/p67phox: neutrophil cytosol factor 2; NCF4/p67phox: neutrophil cytosol factor 4; Peritoneal macrophages: PM; PINCA: pore-forming toxin-induced non-canonical autophagy; plc/PLC: 1-phosphatidylinositol phosphodiesterase; PMA: phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate; RB1CC1/FIP200: RB1-inducible coiled-coil protein 1; ROS: reactive oxygen species; S. aureus: Staphylococcus aureus; S. flexneri: Shigella flexneri; SQSTM1/p62: sequestosome 1; S. typhimurium: Salmonella typhimurium; T3SS: type III secretion system; TNF: tumor necrosis factor; ULK: unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase; PM: peritoneal macrophages; WT: wild type.
    Keywords:  CYBB/NOX2; LC3-associated phagocytosis; Listeria monocytogenes; PINCA; ULK; macrophage priming; macrophages; membrane damage; non-canonical autophagy; reactive oxygen species (ROS)
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2021.1969765
  22. Chem Biol Interact. 2021 Sep 07. pii: S0009-2797(21)00286-6. [Epub ahead of print] 109648
    A-24, a steroidal saponin from Allium chinense, induced apoptosis, autophagy and migration inhibition in p53 wild-type and p53-deficient gastric cancer cells.
    Jingwen Xu, Yihai Wang, Yi Wang, Zhe Wang, Xiangjiu He.
      Allium chinense is a vegetable with nutrition and unique flavor, and it is used as traditional Chinese medicine. We previously reported that the active compound A-24 induces apoptosis and autophagy in p53 wild-type gastric cancer cells through the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. Our present work indicates that A-24 also has a significant proliferation inhibition effect on p53-deficient KATO-III cells, and the p53 status did not affect A-24 induced migration inhibition, but negatively controlled the occurrence of autophagy. We also found that the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) mediated A-24 induced apoptosis is p53-independent. Besides, p-Akt was not downregulated by A-24 in p53-deficient gastric cancer cells. Taken together, our results indicate that A-24 induced apoptosis and autophagy via the ROS-PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in p53 wild-type gastric cancer cells and through the ROS-mTOR pathway in p53-deficient gastric cancer cells. Our study recommended A-24 as a promising future phytotherapeutic candidate for gastric cancer treatment.
    Keywords:  Allium chinense; Autophagy; ROS; Saponin; p53
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbi.2021.109648
  23. Sci Rep. 2021 Sep 06. 11(1): 17733
    Mitochondria-affecting small molecules ameliorate proteostasis defects associated with neurodegenerative diseases.
    Elissa Tjahjono, Jingqi Pei, Alexey V Revtovich, Terri-Jeanne E Liu, Alisha Swadi, Maria C Hancu, Joe G Tolar, Natalia V Kirienko.
      Macroautophagic recycling of dysfunctional mitochondria, known as mitophagy, is essential for mitochondrial homeostasis and cell viability. Accumulation of defective mitochondria and impaired mitophagy have been widely implicated in many neurodegenerative diseases, and loss-of-function mutations of PINK1 and Parkin, two key regulators of mitophagy, are amongst the most common causes of heritable parkinsonism. This has led to the hypothesis that pharmacological stimulation of mitophagy may be a feasible approach to combat neurodegeneration. Toward this end, we screened ~ 45,000 small molecules using a high-throughput, whole-organism, phenotypic screen that monitored accumulation of PINK-1 protein, a key event in mitophagic activation, in a Caenorhabditis elegans strain carrying a Ppink-1::PINK-1::GFP reporter. We obtained eight hits that increased mitochondrial fragmentation and autophagosome formation. Several of the compounds also reduced ATP production, oxygen consumption, mitochondrial mass, and/or mitochondrial membrane potential. Importantly, we found that treatment with two compounds, which we named PS83 and PS106 (more commonly known as sertraline) reduced neurodegenerative disease phenotypes, including delaying paralysis in a C. elegans β-amyloid aggregation model in a PINK-1-dependent manner. This report presents a promising step toward the identification of compounds that will stimulate mitochondrial turnover.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97148-z
  24. Autophagy. 2021 Sep 07. 1-3
    Pep4-dependent microautophagy is required for post-ER degradation of GPI-anchored proteins.
    Leticia Lemus, Veit Goder.
      Clearance of misfolded proteins from the secretory pathway often occurs soon after their biosynthesis by endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated protein degradation (ERAD). However, certain types of misfolded proteins are not ERAD substrates and exit the ER. They are then scrutinized by ill-defined post-ER quality control (post-ERQC) mechanisms and are frequently routed to the vacuole/lysosome for degradation. Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins (GPI-APs) constitute a class of proteins of the secretory pathway that mostly depends on post-ERQC. How misfolded GPI-APs are detected, transported to the vacuole/lysosome and taken up by this organelle was poorly defined. Originating from the intriguing observation that several misfolded GPI-APs accumulate in the yeast vacuolar membrane in the absence of the major vacuolar protease Pep4, we designed an unbiased genome-wide screen in yeast and followed the trafficking of the misfolded fluorescent GPI-AP Gas1* from the ER to the vacuolar lumen. Our results reveal that post-ERQC of GPI-APs is linked with a novel type of microautophagy.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2021.1971929
  25. Liver Res. 2021 Jun;5(2): 79-87
    Liver-specific deletion of mechanistic target of rapamycin does not protect against acetaminophen-induced liver injury in mice.
    Hua Sun, Hong-Min Ni, Jennifer M McCracken, Jephte Y Akakpo, Sam Fulte, Tara McKeen, Hartmut Jaeschke, Hua Wang, Wen-Xing Ding.
       Background: Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose can cause liver injury and liver failure, which is one of the most common causes of drug-induced liver injury in the United States. Pharmacological activation of autophagy by inhibiting mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) protects against APAP-induced liver injury likely via autophagic removal of APAP-adducts and damaged mitochondria. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of genetic ablation of mTOR pathways in mouse liver in APAP-induced liver injury and liver repair/regeneration.
    Methods: Albumin-Cre (Alb-Cre) mice, mTORf/f and Raptorf/f mice (C57BL/6J background) were crossbred to produce liver-specific mTOR knockout (L-mTOR KO, Alb Cre+/-, mTORf/f) and liver-specific Raptor KO (L-Raptor, Alb Cre+/-, Raptor f/f) mice. Alb-Cre littermates were used as wild-type (WT) mice. These mice were treated with APAP for various time points for up to 48 h. Liver injury, cell proliferation, autophagy and mTOR activation were determined.
    Results: We found that genetic deletion of neither Raptor, an important adaptor protein in mTOR complex 1, nor mTOR, in the mouse liver significantly protected against APAP-induced liver injury despite increased hepatic autophagic flux. Genetic deletion of Raptor or mTOR in mouse livers did not affect APAP metabolism and APAP-induced c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activation, but slightly improved mouse survival likely due to increased hepatocyte proliferation.
    Conclusions: Our results indicate that genetic ablation of mTOR in mouse livers does not protect against APAP-induced liver injury but may slightly improve liver regeneration and mouse survival after APAP overdose.
    Keywords:  Acetaminophen (APAP); Autophagy; Hepatotoxicity; Liver injury; Liver regeneration; Mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR); Regulatory associated protein of mTOR complex (Raptor)
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livres.2021.03.001
  26. Autophagy. 2021 Sep 05. 1-15
    USP5 attenuates NLRP3 inflammasome activation by promoting autophagic degradation of NLRP3.
    Baoshan Cai, Jian Zhao, Yuling Zhang, Yaxing Liu, Chunhong Ma, Fan Yi, Yi Zheng, Lei Zhang, Tian Cheng, Huiqing Liu, Bingyu Liu, Chengjiang Gao.
       ABBREVIATIONS: 3-MA: 3-methyladenine; AIM2: absent in melanoma 2; ATG5: autophagy related 5; BafA1: bafilomycin A1; CASP1: caspase 1; CHX: cycloheximide; Co-IP: co-immunoprecipitation; CQ: chloroquine; DUBs: deubiquitinases; IL1B/IL-1β: interleukin 1 beta; LAMP1: lysosomal associated membrane protein 1; LPS: lipopolysaccharide; MARCHF7/MARCH7: membrane associated RING-CH-type finger 7; NFKB/NF-κB: nuclear factor kappa B; Nig.: nigericin; NLRC4: NLR family CARD domain containing 4; NLRP3: NLR family pyrin domain containing 3; PECs: peritoneal exudate cells; PMN: polymorphonuclear; PMs: peritoneal macrophages; PYCARD/ASC: PYD and CARD domain containing; TLRs: toll like receptors; TNF/TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor; Ub: ubiquitin; USP5: ubiquitin specific peptidase 5; WT: wild type.
    Keywords:  Autophagy-lysosome pathway; MARCHF7; NLRP3 inflammasome; USP5; deubiquitinase
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2021.1965426
  27. Oncotarget. 2021 Aug 31. 12(18): 1821-1835
    Anti-aging: senolytics or gerostatics (unconventional view).
    Mikhail V Blagosklonny.
      Senolytics are basically anti-cancer drugs, repurposed to kill senescent cells selectively. It is even more difficult to selectively kill senescent cells than to kill cancer cells. Based on lessons of cancer therapy, here I suggest how to exploit oncogene-addiction and to combine drugs to achieve selectivity. However, even if selective senolytic combinations will be developed, there is little evidence that a few senescent cells are responsible for organismal aging. I also discuss gerostatics, such as rapamycin and other rapalogs, pan-mTOR inhibitors, dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitors, which inhibit growth- and aging-promoting pathways. Unlike senolytics, gerostatics do not kill cells but slow down cellular geroconversion to senescence. Numerous studies demonstrated that inhibition of the mTOR pathways by any means (genetic, pharmacological and dietary) extends lifespan. Currently, only two studies demonstrated that senolytics (fisetin and a combination Dasatinib plus Quercetin) extend lifespan in mice. These senolytics slightly inhibit the mTOR pathway. Thus, life extension by these senolytics can be explained by their slight rapamycin-like (gerostatic) effects.
    Keywords:  aging; geroscience; hyperfunction theory; senolytics; sirolimus
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.28049
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