Vojo Deretic

Autophagy is a defense mechanism inhibiting BCG and Mycobacterium tuberculosis survival in infected macrophages.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an intracellular pathogen persisting within phagosomes through interference with phagolysosome biogenesis. Here we show that stimulation of autophagic pathways in macrophages causes mycobacterial phagosomes to mature into phagolysosomes. Physiological induction of autophagy or its pharmacological stimulation by rapamycin resulted in mycobacterial phagosome colocalization with the autophagy effector LC3, an elongation factor in autophagosome formation. Autophagy stimulation increased phagosomal colocalization with Beclin-1, a subunit of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase hVPS34, necessary for autophagy and a target for mycobacterial phagosome maturation arrest. Induction of autophagy suppressed intracellular survival of mycobacteria. IFN-gamma induced autophagy in macrophages, and so did transfection with LRG-47, an effector of IFN-gamma required for antimycobacterial action. These findings demonstrate that autophagic pathways can overcome the trafficking block imposed by M. tuberculosis. Autophagy, which is a hormonally, developmentally, and, as shown here, immunologically regulated process, represents an underappreciated innate defense mechanism for control of intracellular pathogens.

Human IRGM Induces Autophagy to Eliminate Intracellular Mycobacteria

Immunity-related p47 guanosine triphosphatases (IRG) play a role in defense against intracellular pathogens. We found that the murine Irgm1 (LRG-47) guanosine triphosphatase induced autophagy and generated large autolysosomal organelles as a mechanism for the elimination of intracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We also identified a function for a human IRG protein in the control of intracellular pathogens and report that the human Irgm1 ortholog, IRGM, plays a role in autophagy and in the reduction of intracellular bacillary load.

Autophagy in infection, inflammation and immunity

Autophagy is a fundamental eukaryotic pathway that has multiple effects on immunity. Autophagy is induced by pattern recognition receptors and, through autophagic adaptors, it provides a mechanism for the elimination of intracellular microorganisms. Autophagy controls inflammation through regulatory interactions with innate immune signalling pathways, by removing endogenous inflammasome agonists and through effects on the secretion of immune mediators. Moreover, autophagy contributes to antigen presentation and to T cell homeostasis, and it affects T cell repertoires and polarization. Thus, as we discuss in this Review, autophagy has multitiered immunological functions that influence infection, inflammation and immunity.

Unveiling the roles of autophagy in innate and adaptive immunity

Cells digest portions of their interiors in a process known as autophagy to recycle nutrients, remodel and dispose of unwanted cytoplasmic constituents. This ancient pathway, conserved from yeast to humans, is now emerging as a central player in the immunological control of bacterial, parasitic and viral infections. The process of autophagy may degrade intracellular pathogens, deliver endogenous antigens to MHC-class-II-loading compartments, direct viral nucleic acids to Toll-like receptors and regulate T-cell homeostasis. This Review describes the mechanisms of autophagy and highlights recent advances relevant to the role of autophagy in innate and adaptive immunity.

Autophagy, Immunity, and Microbial Adaptations

Autophagy adjusts cellular biomass and function in response to diverse stimuli, including infection. Autophagy plays specific roles in shaping immune system development, fueling host innate and adaptive immune responses, and directly controlling intracellular microbes as a cell-autonomous innate defense. As an evolutionary counterpoint, intracellular pathogens have evolved to block autophagic microbicidal defense and subvert host autophagic responses for their survival or growth. The ability of eukaryotic pathogens to deploy their own autophagic machinery may also contribute to microbial pathogenesis. Thus, a complex interplay between autophagy and microbial adaptations against autophagy governs the net outcome of host-microbe encounters.

Toll-like receptors control autophagy.

Autophagy is a newly recognized innate defense mechanism, acting as a cell‐autonomous system for elimination of intracellular pathogens. The signals and signalling pathways inducing autophagy in response to pathogen invasion are presently not known. Here we show that autophagy is controlled by recognizing conserved pathogen‐associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). We screened a PAMP library for effects on autophagy in RAW 264.7 macrophages and found that several prototype Toll‐like receptor (TLR) ligands induced autophagy. Single‐stranded RNA and TLR7 generated the most potent effects. Induction of autophagy via TLR7 depended on MyD88 expression. Stimulation of autophagy with TLR7 ligands was functional in eliminating intracellular microbes, even when the target pathogen was normally not associated with TLR7 signalling. These findings link two innate immunity defense systems, TLR signalling and autophagy, provide a potential molecular mechanism for induction of autophagy in response to pathogen invasion, and show that the newly recognized ability of TLR ligands to stimulate autophagy can be used to treat intracellular pathogens.

Beclin1-binding UVRAG targets the class C Vps complex to coordinate autophagosome maturation and endocytic trafficking

Autophagic and endocytic pathways are tightly regulated membrane rearrangement processes that are crucial for homeostasis, development and disease. Autophagic cargo is delivered from autophagosomes to lysosomes for degradation through a complex process that topologically resembles endosomal maturation. Here, we report that a Beclin1-binding autophagic tumour suppressor, UVRAG, interacts with the class C Vps complex, a key component of the endosomal fusion machinery. This interaction stimulates Rab7 GTPase activity and autophagosome fusion with late endosomes/lysosomes, thereby enhancing delivery and degradation of autophagic cargo. Furthermore, the UVRAG-class-C-Vps complex accelerates endosome–endosome fusion, resulting in rapid degradation of endocytic cargo. Remarkably, autophagosome/endosome maturation mediated by the UVRAG-class-C-Vps complex is genetically separable from UVRAG–Beclin1-mediated autophagosome formation. This result indicates that UVRAG functions as a multivalent trafficking effector that regulates not only two important steps of autophagy — autophagosome formation and maturation — but also endosomal fusion, which concomitantly promotes transport of autophagic and endocytic cargo to the degradative compartments.

Arrest of mycobacterial phagosome maturation is caused by a block in vesicle fusion between stages controlled by rab5 and rab7.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the closely related organism Mycobacterium bovis can survive and replicate inside macrophages. Intracellular survival is at least in part attributed to the failure of mycobacterial phagosomes to undergo fusion with lysosomes. The transformation of phagosomes into phagolysosomes involves gradual acquisition of markers from the endosomal compartment. Members of the rab family of small GTPases which confer fusion competence in the endocytic pathway are exchanged sequentially onto the phagosomal membranes in the course of their maturation. To identify the step at which the fusion capability of phagosomes containing mycobacteria is compromised, we purified green fluorescent protein-labeled M. bovis BCG phagosomal compartments (MPC) and compared GTP-binding protein profiles of these vesicles with latex bead phagosomal compartments (LBC). We report that the MPC do not acquire rab7, specific for late endosomes, even 7 days postinfection, whereas this GTP-binding protein is present on the LBC within hours after phagocytosis. By contrast, rab5 is retained and enriched with time on the MPC, suggesting fusion competence with an early endosomal compartment. Prior infection of macrophages withM. bovis BCG also affected the dynamics of rab5 and rab7 acquisition by subsequently formed LBC. Selective exclusion of rab7, coupled with the retention of rab5 on the mycobacterial phagosome, may allow organisms from the M. tuberculosis complex to avert the usual physiological destination of phagocytosed material.

Autophagy-based unconventional secretory pathway for extracellular delivery of IL-1β

Autophagy controls the quality and quantity of the eukaryotic cytoplasm while performing two evolutionarily highly conserved functions: cell‐autonomous provision of energy and nutrients by cytosol autodigestion during starvation, and removal of defunct organelles and large aggregates exceeding the capacity of other cellular degradative systems. In contrast to these autodigestive processes, autophagy in yeast has additional, biogenesis functions. However, no equivalent biosynthetic roles have been described for autophagy in mammals. Here, we show that in mammalian cells, autophagy has a hitherto unappreciated positive contribution to the biogenesis and secretion of the proinflammatory cytokine IL‐1β via an export pathway that depends on Atg5, inflammasome, at least one of the two mammalian Golgi reassembly stacking protein (GRASP) paralogues, GRASP55 (GORASP2) and Rab8a. This process, which is a type of unconventional secretion, expands the functional manifestations of autophagy beyond autodigestive and quality control roles in mammals. It enables a subset of cytosolic proteins devoid of signal peptide sequences, and thus unable to access the conventional pathway through the ER, to enter an autophagy‐based secretory pathway facilitating their exit from the cytoplasm.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis glycosylated phosphatidylinositol causes phagosome maturation arrest

The tubercle bacillus parasitizes macrophages by inhibiting phagosome maturation into the phagolysosome. This phenomenon underlies the tuberculosis pandemic involving 2 billion people. We report here how Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes phagosome maturation arrest. A glycosylated M. tuberculosis phosphatidylinositol [mannose-capped lipoarabinomannan (ManLAM)] interfered with the phagosomal acquisition of the lysosomal cargo and syntaxin 6 from the trans-Golgi network. ManLAM specifically inhibited the pathway dependent on phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity and phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate-binding effectors. These findings identify ManLAM as the M. tuberculosis product responsible for the inhibition of phagosomal maturation.