Hepatic fibrosis is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Hepatic fibrosis is usually associated with chronic liver diseases caused by infection, drugs, metabolic disorders, or autoimmune imbalances. Effective clinical therapies are still lacking. Autophagy is a cellular process that degrades damaged organelles or protein aggregation, which participates in many pathological proc...

In this review, we describe research findings on the effects of alcohol exposure on two major catabolic systems in liver cells: the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) and autophagy. These hydrolytic systems are not unique to liver cells; they exist in all eukaryotic tissues and cells. However, because the liver is the principal site of ethanol metabolism, it sustains the greatest damage from hea...

Recent studies showing the therapeutic effect of young blood on aging-associated deterioration of organs point to young blood as the solution for clinical problems related to old age. Given that defective autophagy has been implicated in aging and aging-associated organ injuries, this study was designed to determine the effect of young blood on aging-induced alterations in hepatic function and ...

Retention of bile acids (BAs) in the liver during cholestasis plays an important role in the development of cholestatic liver injury. Several studies have reported that high concentrations of certain BAs induce cell death and inflammatory response in the liver, and BAs may promote liver tumorigenesis. Macroautophagy (hereafter referred to as autophagy) is a lysosomal degradation process that re...

Liver cancer is the second-most frequent cause of cancer death in the world and is highly treatment resistant. We reported previously that inhibition of neddylation pathway with specific NAE inhibitor MLN4924, suppressed the malignant phenotypes of liver cancer. However, during the process, MLN4924 induces pro-survival autophagy as a mechanism of drug resistance. Here, we report that blockage o...

Objective(s): Eupafolin, a major active component of Eupatorium perfoliatum L., has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is responsible for myocardial depression. A line of evidences revealed that LPS induces autophagy in cardiomyocytes injury. This study aims to evaluate the effects of eupafolin on LPS-induced cardiomyocyte autophagy...

The podocyte functions as a glomerular filtration barrier. Autophagy of postmitotic cells is an important protective mechanism that is essential for maintaining the homeostasis of podocytes. Exploring an in vivo rat model of passive Heymann nephritis and an in vitro model of puromycin amino nucleotide (PAN)-cultured podocytes, we examined the specific mechanisms underlying changing autophagy le...

Cisplatin injury to renal tubular epithelial cells (RTEC) is accompanied by autophagy and caspase activation. However, autophagy gradually decreases during the course of cisplatin injury. The role of autophagy and the mechanism of its decrease during cisplatin injury are not well understood. This study demonstrated that autophagy proteins beclin-1, Atg5, and Atg12 were cleaved and degraded duri...

Background and aimsOxidative stress triggers metabolic fatty liver disease (MAFLD) fibrosis. Previous animal studies demonstrated that the transcription factor NRF2, master regulator of antioxidant response, protects against MAFLD S217879, a next generation NRF2 activator has been recently shown to trigger diet-induced steatohepatitis resolution reduce established fibrosis in rodents. Our aim w...

Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency (ATD) is one of the most common genetic causes of liver disease and is a prototype of liver diseases caused by the pathologic accumulation of aggregated mutant alpha-1-antitrypsin Z (ATZ) within liver cells. In the case of ATD-associated liver disease, the resulting "gain-of-function" toxicity can lead to serious clinical manifestations, including cirrhosis and he...