Genetic and Epigenetic Control of Autophagy in Human Diseases
Dr. Jun Ren E-Mail
Professor, Department of Cardiology, Fudan University Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai, China
Research Keywords: cardiovascular, metabolism, mitochondria, obesity, diabetes
Dr. Muralikrishnan Dhanasekaran E-Mail
Professor, Department of Drug Discovery and Development, Harrison College of Pharmacy, Auburn University, USA
Research Keywords: pathophysiology, pharmacology and toxicology in dementia, movement disorders, addiction, hyperglycemia, aging
Ample of clinical and experimental studies have indicated the importance of autophagy and the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) in the pathogenesis of human diseases including cancer, neurodegenerative disease and muscle disorders. Autophagy is essential for the removal of dysfunctional organelles and protein aggregates, whereas UPS is important for the quality control of proteins. Cardiovascular and endocrine metabolic systems are deemed particularly susceptible to aged or dysfunctional organelles and aggregation-prone proteins. Excessive or defective activity of the autophagy lysosome or ubiquitin-proteasome has been shown to lead to detrimental effects in cardiometabolic homeostasis. Understanding the pathological role of these degradative systems may provide novel therapeutic targets to counteract not only cardiovascular diseases but also metabolic anomalies. We invite investigators to contribute original research as well as review articles that will stimulate the continuing efforts towards understand the pathophysiology behind autophagy and UPS in the pathogenesis of human diseases. We are particularly interested in articles describing current concepts in the management of cardiometabolic diseases with a special focus on new concept of applying autophagy and protein quality control in the therapeutics of these comorbidities.
Keywords: autophagy, mitochondria, cardiovascular, metabolic, protein quality control, cell death