autophagy tagged posts

Proposed mechanism of skeletal muscle mitochondria involvement in sarcopenia

Muscle wastage and loss of strength, ie sarcopenia causes loss of quality of life. At about 55 years old, people begin to lose muscle mass, this loss continues into old age, at which point it becomes critical. The underlying causes of sarcopenia are unknown and thus no treatment is available for this condition. A study has discovered that Mitofusin 2 is required to preserve healthy muscles in mice. This protein could serve as a therapeutic target to ameliorate sarcopenia in the elderly.

They demonstrate that low activity of this protein in 24-month old mice (equivalent of a person aged 80) is directly associated with muscle wastage and sarcopenia observed...

Representative high-magnification photomicrographs of H&E-stained sections of abdominal skin tumor specimens from DOX-treated ikGPCR+;Becn2+/+ and ikGPCR+;Becn2+/− mice. (Scale bars, 10 μm.)

Building upon earlier research, UT Southwestern Medical Center and their collaborators have identified a new innate immunity pathway that protects mammals from viral oncogenesis, the process by which viruses cause normal cells to become cancerous. Given the prevalence of virus-related cancers in humans, the discovery is significant – and could eventually contribute to development of new cancer therapies.

“More than 20% of human cancers – as well as a number of other diseases – are linked to chronic viral infections,” said Dr. Xiaonan Dong.
This study revealed that the autophagy-related protein becli...

PINK1 and parkin are key regulators of mitochondrial quality control. Credit: http://www.sciencedirect.com/…/pii/S0166223614000435

>> potential new pathway to treat ALS, other diseases. When mitochondia are damaged, they leak destructive molecules that can cause substantial harm and eventually kill brain cells. PINK1, a protein implicated in Parkinson’s disease is critical for helping cells get rid of dysfunctional mitochondria, by triggering an intricate process called mitophagy that breaks down and removes damaged mitochondria from the cell.

“PINK1 is a flag of damaged mitochondria,” said Richard Youle, Ph.D., the head of the Biochemistry Section of NINDS. “It identifies which mitochondria need to be eliminated to keep cells healthy...