Neuroendocrine regulation of autophagy by leptin.

The satiety hormone leptin plays a cardinal role in the pathophysiology of obesity and diabetes. Here, we show that pharmacological autophagy inducers like rapamycin, spermidine and resveratrol can reduce leptin concentrations in the serum of mice and that genetic inactivation of the leptin/leptin receptor system leads to an increase in autophagy in peripheral tissues including skeletal muscle, heart and liver. Paradoxically, intravenous or intraperitoneal administration of recombinant leptin protein also induced autophagy in these tissues. Moreover, leptin stimulated canonical autophagy in cultured human or mouse cell lines, a phenomenon that was coupled to the activation of adenosine monophosphate-dependent kianse (AMPK), as well as the inhibition of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and that was confirmed by autophagic flux measurements. These results suggest that leptin plays an important role in the neuroendocrine control of autophagy, underscoring the existence of novel links between metabolic control and autophagic flux that warrant further in-depth investigation.

BH3 mimetics reveal the network properties of autophagy-regulatory signaling cascades.

Beclin 1 usually interacts with several autophagy-inhibitory proteins including the anti-apoptotic proteins from the Bcl-2 family (Bcl-2, Bcl-XL and Mcl-1) and the inositol-1,4,5 trisphosphate (IP 3) receptor, which interacts with Beclin 1 indirectly, via Bcl-2. Beclin 1 possesses a BH3 domain that usually interacts with a hydrophobic cleft, the BH3 receptor domain, contained within Bcl-2 and its homologues. Dissociation of this interaction can be induced by phosphorylation or ubiquitination of the BH3 domain, by post-transcriptional modifications affecting the Bcl-2 protein, as well as by other BH3 domain-containing proteins that have a high affinity for Bcl-2 (or its homologues), and hence liberate Beclin 1 from its restraint. As a result, it has been thought that so-called BH3 mimetics, that is the pharmacological agents that occupy the hydrophobic cleft of Bcl-2, Bcl-XL and Mcl-1, would induce autophagy solely by disrupting the interaction between Beclin 1 and its inhibitors. Unexpectedly, we found that two distinct BH3 mimetics, ABT737 and HA14-1, also stimulate other pro-autophagic pathways and hence activate the nutrient sensors Sirtuin 1 and AMPK, inhibit mTOR, deplete cytoplasmic p53 and trigger the IKK kinase. All these additional activities are required for optimal autophagy induction by BH3 mimetics, pointing to the existence of a coordinated autophagy-regulatory network.

A fluorescence-microscopic and cytofluorometric system for monitoring the turnover of the autophagic substrate p62/SQSTM1.

Autophagic flux can be measured by determining the declining abundance of autophagic substrates such as sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1, better known as p62), which is sequestered in autophagosomes upon its direct interaction with LC3. However, the total amount of p62 results from two opposed processes, namely its synthesis (which can be modulated by some cellular stressors including autophagy inducers) and its degradation. To avoid this problem, we generated a stable cell line expressing a chimeric protein composed by p62 and the HaloTag (®) protein, which serves as a receptor for fluorescent HaloTag (®) ligands. Upon labeling with HaloTag (®) ligands (which form covalent, near-to-undissociable bonds with the Halotag (®) receptor) and washing, the resulting fluorescent labeling is not influenced by de novo protein synthesis, therefore allowing for the specific monitoring of the fusion protein decline without any interference by protein synthesis. We demonstrate that a HaloTag (®) -p62 fusion protein stably expressed in suitable cell lines can be used to monitor autophagy by flow cytometry and automated fluorescence microscopy. We surmise that this system could be adapted to high-throughput applications.

Diversification of the insulin receptor family in the helminth parasite Schistosoma mansoni.

Insulin signalling is a very ancient and well conserved pathway in metazoan cells, dependent on insulin receptors (IR) which are transmembrane proteins with tyrosine kinase activity. A unique IR is usually present in invertebrates whereas two IR members are found with different functions in vertebrates. This work demonstrates the existence of two distinct IR homologs (SmIR-1 and SmIR-2) in the parasite trematode Schistosoma mansoni. These two receptors display differences in several structural motifs essential for signalling and are differentially expressed in parasite tissues, suggesting that they could have distinct functions. The gene organization of SmIR-1 and SmIR-2 is similar to that of the human IR and to that of the IR homolog from Echinococcus multilocularis (EmIR), another parasitic platyhelminth. SmIR-1 and SmIR-2 were shown to interact with human pro-insulin but not with pro-insulin-like growth factor-1 in two-hybrid assays. Phylogenetic results indicated that SmIR-2 and EmIR might be functional orthologs whereas SmIR-1 would have emerged to fulfil specific functions in schistosomes.