Autophagy's hidden drivers: Exploring the role of post-translational modifications

Featured Speakers: Reuben Shaw, PhD, and Vojo Deretic, PhD

Our bodies are in a constant balancing act known as homeostasis. The ringleader behind all this? Autophagy, an essential lysosome-mediated degradation pathway that maintains cellular viability and death in response to various intra- and extra-cellular stress. It determines whether we remain healthy or succumb to diseases, such as cancer, Parkinson’s, and diabetes, and scientists have recently made headway in elucidating its pathways.

Autophagy appears to be a double-edged sword. It can either play a protective role (e.g., tumor suppressors) or a detrimental one (e.g., tumor promoters). During disorder onset and progression, the expression levels of autophagy-related regulators and proteins encoded by autophagy-related genes (ATGs) are abnormally regulated. Epigenetic modifications on DNA and histones, such as methylation and acetylation, miRNAs, and post-translational modifications (PTMs), including ubiquitination, phosphorylation, and acetylation, precisely manipulate gene expression and protein function and are strongly correlated with the occurrence and development of multiple diseases. There is substantial evidence that autophagy-relevant regulators and machineries are subjected to epigenetic and post-translational modulation, resulting in alterations in autophagy levels, which subsequently induces disease.

In this webinar, the speakers will focus on regulatory mechanisms mediated by PTMs in disease-related autophagy. The effect of autophagy on the therapeutic effectiveness of epigenetic drugs or drugs targeting post-translational modification will also be discussed. Lastly, the interplay between the immune system and autophagy, indicating its potential as an immunomodulatory target, will be examined.

Watch this Science/AAAS webinar recording, brought to you by CST, to:

• Learn about the types of autophagy and their significance to cellular processes.
• Hear how post-translational modifications (PTMs) are involved in autophagy.
• Examine the crosstalk between PTMs and key signaling pathways in autophagy regulation.