Biology & Life Sciences

Editor’s Picks: Autophagy

Published April 18, 2017 Curated Collections

Autophagy or “self-eating” is a process by which the cell removes misfolded proteins and damaged organelles in times of stress and starvation. This tightly regulated process is important for maintaining energy balance and its dysregulation of has been demonstrated to play a role in the development of cancer, neurodegeneration and ageing. In this Editor's Picks, PLOS ONE Associate Editor Adya Misra showcases some of the research highlighting the importance of autophagy in cancer and neurodegenerative disease as well various modulators of this process. To learn more about this topic, read the related blog Stressful Conditions That Cause Self-Eating: Autophagy within the Cell.

Image Credit: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002906.g002

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Modulators of Autophagy
Autophagy in Cancer
The Neuronal Role of Autophagy
Time-lapse Video

Modulators of Autophagy

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10.1371/journal.pone.0017412

PLOS ONE Starvation Induced Cell Death in Autophagy-Defective Yeast Mutants Is Caused by Mitochondria Dysfunction
February 25, 2011 Sho W. Suzuki, Jun Onodera, Yoshinori Ohsumi
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10.1371/journal.pone.0015394

PLOS ONE The Association of AMPK with ULK1 Regulates Autophagy
November 3, 2010 Jong Woo Lee, Sungman Park, Yoshinori Takahashi, Hong-Gang Wang
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10.1371/journal.pone.0082556

PLOS ONE MIR376A Is a Regulator of Starvation-Induced Autophagy
December 16, 2013 Gozde Korkmaz, Kumsal Ayse Tekirdag, Deniz Gulfem Ozturk, Ali Kosar, Osman Ugur Sezerman, Devrim Gozuacik
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10.1371/journal.pone.0061020

PLOS ONE mTOR-Controlled Autophagy Requires Intracellular Ca²⁺ Signaling
April 2, 2013 Jean-Paul Decuypere, Dimphny Kindt, Tomas Luyten, Kirsten Welkenhuyzen, Ludwig Missiaen, Humbert De Smedt, Jan B. Parys, Geert Bultynck
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10.1371/journal.pone.0095288

PLOS ONE Loss of PINK1 Impairs Stress-Induced Autophagy and Cell Survival
April 21, 2014 Dajana Parganlija, Michael Klinkenberg, Jorge Domínguez-Bautista, Miriam Hetzel, Suzana Gispert, Marthe A. Chimi, Stefan Dröse, Sören Mai, Ulrich Brandt, Georg Auburger, Marina Jendrach

Autophagy in Cancer

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10.1371/journal.pone.0020143

PLOS ONE Omeprazole Inhibits Proliferation and Modulates Autophagy in Pancreatic Cancer Cells
May 24, 2011 Andrej Udelnow, Andreas Kreyes, Stefan Ellinger, Katharina Landfester, Paul Walther, Thomas Klapperstueck, Johannes Wohlrab, Doris Henne-Bruns, Uwe Knippschild, Peter Würl
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10.1371/journal.pone.0168193

PLOS ONE The Proteasome Inhibitor Bortezomib Affects Chondrosarcoma Cells via the Mitochondria-Caspase Dependent Pathway and Enhances Death Receptor Expression and Autophagy
December 15, 2016 Birgit Lohberger, Bibiane Steinecker-Frohnwieser, Nicole Stuendl, Heike Kaltenegger, Andreas Leithner, Beate Rinner
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10.1371/journal.pone.0147218

PLOS ONE Sodium Butyrate Induces Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Autophagy in Colorectal Cells: Implications for Apoptosis
January 19, 2016 Jintao Zhang, Man Yi, Longying Zha, Siqiang Chen, Zhijia Li, Cheng Li, Mingxing Gong, Hong Deng, Xinwei Chu, Jiehua Chen, Zheqing Zhang, Limei Mao, Suxia Sun
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10.1371/journal.pone.0110293

PLOS ONE Upregulation of Autophagy-Related Gene-5 (ATG-5) Is Associated with Chemoresistance in Human Gastric Cancer
October 17, 2014 Jie Ge, Zihua Chen, Jin Huang, Jinxiang Chen, Weijie Yuan, Zhenghao Deng, Zhikang Chen
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10.1371/journal.pone.0087064

PLOS ONE Novel Analogue of Colchicine Induces Selective Pro-Death Autophagy and Necrosis in Human Cancer Cells
January 23, 2014 Kristen Larocque, Pamela Ovadje, Sinisa Djurdjevic, Mariam Mehdi, James Green, Siyaram Pandey

The Neuronal Role of Autophagy

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10.1371/journal.pone.0002906

PLOS ONE Disruption of Neuronal Autophagy by Infected Microglia Results in Neurodegeneration
August 6, 2008 Mehrdad Alirezaei, William B. Kiosses, Claudia T. Flynn, Nathan R. Brady, Howard S. Fox
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10.1371/journal.pone.0162723

PLOS ONE Small GSK-3 Inhibitor Shows Efficacy in a Motor Neuron Disease Murine Model Modulating Autophagy
September 15, 2016 Estefanía de Munck, Valle Palomo, Emma Muñoz-Sáez, Daniel I. Perez, Begoña Gómez-Miguel, M. Teresa Solas, Carmen Gil, Ana Martínez, Rosa M. Arahuetes
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10.1371/journal.pone.0171848

PLOS ONE TOR signaling pathway and autophagy are involved in the regulation of circadian rhythms in behavior and plasticity of L2 interneurons in the brain of Drosophila melanogaster
February 14, 2017 Ewelina Kijak, Elżbieta Pyza
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10.1371/journal.pone.0046834

PLOS ONE The Role of Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy in Huntingtin Degradation
October 11, 2012 Lin Qi, Xing-Ding Zhang, Jun-Chao Wu, Fang Lin, Jin Wang, Marian DiFiglia, Zheng-Hong Qin
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10.1371/journal.pone.0052868

PLOS ONE p62/SQSTM1-Dependent Autophagy of Lewy Body-Like α-Synuclein Inclusions
December 31, 2012 Yoshihisa Watanabe, Harutsugu Tatebe, Katsutoshi Taguchi, Yasuhisa Endo, Takahiko Tokuda, Toshiki Mizuno, Masanori Nakagawa, Masaki Tanaka
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10.1371/journal.pone.0091074

PLOS ONE Roles of Autophagy in MPP⁺-Induced Neurotoxicity In Vivo: The Involvement of Mitochondria and α-Synuclein Aggregation
March 19, 2014 Kai-Chih Hung, Hui-Ju Huang, Ming-Wei Lin, Yen-Ping Lei, Anya Maan-yuh Lin

Time-lapse Video

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pone.0036828.s001

PLOS ONE Neuregulin Promotes Incomplete Autophagy of Prostate Cancer Cells That Is Independent of mTOR Pathway Inhibition
May 12, 2012 Eran Schmukler, Ben Shai, Marcelo Ehrlich, Ronit Pinkas-Kramarski

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