Nucleophagy in Human Disease: Beyond the Physiological Role.

Nucleophagy in Human Disease: Beyond the Physiological Role. Tohoku J Exp Med. 2018;244(1):75-81 Authors: Zhou M, Ji H, Fu N, Chen L, Xia Y Abstract Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved intracellular strategy for degrading organelles and proteins, and nucleophagy refers to the specific process of removing nuclear components from cells by autophagy, Nucleophagy is essential for cell survival by maintaining normal nuclear structure and functions. On the other hand, excessive nucleophagy may result in degradation of essential nuclear components, while impaired nucleophagy may lead to accumulation of harmful metabolic products in the nucleus. Therefore, dysregulation of nucleophagy is likely involved in the pathological process of certain diseases, including psoriasis, cancer, metabolic disorders and aging-related diseases. Nucleophagy is achieved with the participation of various proteins, including proteins encoded by autophagy-related genes (Atg), such as Atg39 and Atg40, as well as nuclear lamina protein lamin B1 and microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3). Lamin B1 and LC3 are located in the nucleus. Moreover, there are different autophagy patterns in nucleophagy, such as piecemeal microautophagy, late nucleophagy, and micronuclei. Among them, micronuclei are considered a special form of nucleophagy detected in mammalian cells, referring to chromosomes or chromosome fragments that are enclosed by nuclear membrane. T...
Source: The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Tohoku J Exp Med Source Type: research