You-Tong Wu

Dual Role of 3-Methyladenine in Modulation of Autophagy via Different Temporal Patterns of Inhibition on Class I and III Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase

A group of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitors, such as 3-methyladenine (3-MA) and wortmannin, have been widely used as autophagy inhibitors based on their inhibitory effect on class III PI3K activity, which is known to be essential for induction of autophagy. In this study, we systematically examined and compared the effects of these two inhibitors on autophagy under both nutrient-rich and deprivation conditions. To our surprise, 3-MA is found to promote autophagy flux when treated under nutrient-rich conditions with a prolonged period of treatment, whereas it is still capable of suppressing starvation-induced autophagy. We first observed that there are marked increases of the autophagic markers in cells treated with 3-MA in full medium for a prolonged period of time (up to 9 h). Second, we provide convincing evidence that the increase of autophagic markers is the result of enhanced autophagic flux, not due to suppression of maturation of autophagosomes or lysosomal function. More importantly, we found that the autophagy promotion activity of 3-MA is due to its differential temporal effects on class I and class III PI3K; 3-MA blocks class I PI3K persistently, whereas its suppressive effect on class III PI3K is transient. Because 3-MA has been widely used as an autophagy inhibitor in the literature, understanding the dual role of 3-MA in autophagy thus suggests that caution should be exercised in the application of 3-MA in autophagy study.

Autophagy plays a protective role during zVAD-induced necrotic cell death.

The aim of this study is to examine the role of autophagy in cell death by using a well-established system in which zVAD, a pan-caspase inhibitor, induces necrotic cell death in L929 murine fibrosarcoma cells. First, we observed the presence of autophagic hallmarks, including an increased number of autophagosomes and the accumulation of LC3-II in zVAD-treated L929 cells. Since the presence of such autophagic hallmarks could be the result of either increased flux of autophagy or blockage of autophagosome maturation (lysosomal fusion and degradation), we next tested the effect of rapamycin, a specific inhibitor for mTOR, and chloroquine, a lysosomal enzyme inhibitor, on zVAD-induced cell death. To our surprise, rapamycin, known to be an autophagy inducer, blocked zVAD-induced cell death, whereas chloroquine greatly sensitized zVAD-induced cell death in L929 cells. Moreover, similar results with rapamycin and chloroquine were also observed in U937 cells when challenged with zVAD. Consistently, induction of autophagy by serum starvation offered significant protection against zVAD-induced cell death, whereas knockdown of Atg5, Atg7 or Beclin 1 markedly sensitized zVAD-induced cell death in L929 cells. More importantly, Atg genes knockdown completely abolished the protective effect of serum starvation on zVAD-induced cell death. Finally, we demonstrated that zVAD was able to inhibit lysosomal enzyme cathepsin B activity, and subsequently blocked autophagosome maturation. Taken together, in contrast to the previous conception that zVAD induces autophagic cell death, here we provide compelling evidence suggesting that autophagy serves as a cell survival mechanism and suppression of autophagy via inhibition of lysosomal function contributes to zVAD-induced necrotic cell death.

Activation of the PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway promotes necrotic cell death via suppression of autophagy

Our previous work has shown that autophagy plays a pro-survival function in two necrotic cell death models: zVAD-treated L929 cells as well as H2O2-treated Bax-/-Bak-/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts (DKO MEF). This study aims to further explore the regulatory role of autophagy in necrosis by examining the functional role of the phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K)-Akt-mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. Our initial intriguing finding was that insulin is able to promote necrotic cell death induced by zVAD and MNNG in L929 cells or by H2O2 in DKO MEF cells cultured in full growth medium. The pro-necrosis function of insulin was further supported by the observations that insulin is capable of abolishing the protective effect of starvation on necrotic cell death induced by zVAD in L929 cells. Next, we demonstrated that insulin acts on the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway to promote necrosis as the suppression of the above pathway by either chemical inhibitors (LY294002 and rapamycin) or mTOR knockdown is able to mitigate the pro-death function of insulin. Finally, we provided evidence that the pro-death function of insulin is dependent on its inhibitory effect on autophagy, which serves as an important pro-survival function in necrosis. Taken together, here we provide compelling evidence to show that activation of the PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway can promote necrotic cell death via suppression of autophagy, at least in the necrosis models defined in our study in which autophagy serves as a pro-survival function. Data from this study not only further underscore the pro-survival function of autophagy in necrotic cell death, but also provide a novel insight into the intricate connections linking the PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway with cell death via modulation of autophagy.

Impaired autophagy due to constitutive mTOR activation sensitizes TSC2-null cells to cell death under stress

It has been well documented that cells deficient in either TSC1 or TSC2 are highly sensitive to various cell death stimuli. In this study, we utilized the TSC2-/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) to study the involvement of autophagy in the enhanced susceptibility of TSC2-null cells to cell death. We first confirmed that both TSC1-null and TSC2-null MEFs are more sensitive to apoptosis in response to amino acid starvation (EBSS) and hypoxia. Second, we found that both the basal and inducible autophagy in TSC2-/- MEFs is impaired, mainly due to constitutive activation of mTORC1. Third, suppression of autophagy by chloroquine and Atg7 knockdown sensitizes TSC2+/+ cells, but not TSC2-/- cells, to EBSS-induced cell death. Conversely, the inhibition of mTORC1 by raptor knockdown and rapamycin activates autophagy and subsequently rescues TSC2-/- cells. Finally, in starved cells, nutrient supplementations (insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and leucine) enhanced cell death in TSC2-/- cells, but reduced cell death in TSC2+/+ cells. Taken together, these data indicate that constitutive activation of mTORC1 in TSC2-/- cells leads to suppression of autophagy and enhanced susceptibility to stress-mediated cell death. Our findings thus provide new insights into the complex relationships among mTOR, autophagy and cell death, and support the possible autophagy-targeted intervention strategies for the treatment of TSC-related pathologies.

Improved microwave magnetic and attenuation properties due to the dopant V2O5 in W-type barium ferrites

High-frequency magnetic and attenuation properties of ferrite/polymer composites were investigated for undoped and V2O5 doped W-type barium ferrites, BaCoxZn2−xFe16O27, with x = 1.0, 1.3 and 1.5. The results show that, as compared to the undoped samples, the permeabilities and are increased by about 50% and 40% for composites doped with 1.0 wt% of V2O5, due to the improved domain wall permeability. These composites have superior attenuation properties over the undoped ones and are, therefore, potential candidates for EM attenuation materials with low reflectivity and broad bandwidth covering S, X and Ku bands.

AMPK mediates a pro-survival autophagy downstream of PARP-1 activation in response to DNA alkylating agents

In this study we aim to elucidate the signaling pathway and biological function of autophagy induced by MNNG, a commonly used DNA alkylating agent. We first observed that MNNG is able to induce necrotic cell death and autophagy in Bax−/− Bak−/− double knockout MEFs. We analyzed the critical role of PARP‐1 activation and ATP depletion in MNNG‐mediated cell death and autophagy via AMPK activation and mTOR suppression. We provide evidence that suppression of AMPK blocks MNNG‐induced autophagy and enhances cell death, suggesting the pro‐survival function of autophagy in MNNG‐treated cells. Taken together, data from this study reveal a novel mechanism in controlling MNNG‐mediated autophagy via AMPK activation downstream of PARP‐1 activation and ATP depletion.

Abstract PR-3: A novel function of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 in modulation of autophagy and necrosis under oxidative stress

PR-3 Under oxidative stress, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) is activated and contributes to necrotic cell death through ATP depletion. On the other hand, oxidative stress is known to stimulate autophagy, and autophagy may act as either a cell death or cell survival mechanism. This study aims to explore the regulatory role of PARP-1 in oxidative stress-mediated autophagy and necrotic cell death. Here we first show that hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induces necrotic cell death in Bax-/- Bak -/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) through a mechanism involving PARP-1 activation and ATP depletion. Next, we provide evidence that autophagy is activated in cells exposed to H2O2. More importantly, we identify a novel autophagy signaling mechanism linking PARP-1 to the serine/threonine protein kinase LKB1-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)-mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, leading to stimulation of autophagy. Finally, we demonstrate that autophagy plays a cytoprotective role in H2O2-induced necrotic cell death as suppression of autophagy by knockdown of autophagy-related gene ATG5 or ATG7 greatly sensitizes H2O2-induced cell death. Taken together, these findings demonstrate a novel function of PARP-1: promotion of autophagy via the LKB1-AMPK-mTOR pathway to enhance cell survival in cells under oxidative stress. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2008;1(7 Suppl):PR-3.