The interplay of autophagy and oxidative stress in the pathogenesis and therapy of retinal degenerative diseases

Cell & Bioscience

Pei-Feng Liu¹  Kun-Che Chang²  Ying-Cheng Lin³  Chia-Hsuan Chang⁴  Chih-Wen Shu⁴  Yen-Ju Chen⁵ 

[1] Department of Biomedical Science and Environmental Biology, PhD Program in Life Science, College of Life Science, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;Department of Medical Research, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;Center for Cancer Research, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;Department of Ophthalmology and Neurobiology, Louis J. Fox Center for Vision Restoration, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA;Graduate Institute of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan;Institute of BioPharmaceutical Sciences, National Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 70, Lianhai Rd., Gushan Dist., 80424, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan;Department of Medical Research, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan;Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan;

关键词: Autophagy;    Reactive oxygen species;    Glaucoma;    Age-related macular degeneration;    Diabetic retinopathy;    Optic nerve atrophy;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13578-021-00736-9

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Oxidative stress is mainly caused by intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, which is highly associated with normal physiological homeostasis and the pathogenesis of diseases, particularly ocular diseases. Autophagy is a self-clearance pathway that removes oxidized cellular components and regulates cellular ROS levels. ROS can modulate autophagy activity through transcriptional and posttranslational mechanisms. Autophagy further triggers transcription factor activation and degrades impaired organelles and proteins to eliminate excessive ROS in cells. Thus, autophagy may play an antioxidant role in protecting ocular cells from oxidative stress. Nevertheless, excessive autophagy may cause autophagic cell death. In this review, we summarize the mechanisms of interaction between ROS and autophagy and their roles in the pathogenesis of several ocular diseases, including glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR), and optic nerve atrophy, which are major causes of blindness. The autophagy modulators used to treat ocular diseases are further discussed. The findings of the studies reviewed here might shed light on the development and use of autophagy modulators for the future treatment of ocular diseases.

【 授权许可】

CC BY