Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012, 13(1), 1209-1224; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms13011209
Targeting Protective Autophagy Exacerbates UV-Triggered Apoptotic Cell Death
1
Institute of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 11221, Taiwan
2
Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
3
Department of Biomedical Image and Radiological Sciences, School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 11221, Taiwan
4
Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
5
Department of Medical Research and Education, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 11217, Taiwan
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 12 December 2011 / Revised: 10 January 2012 / Accepted: 12 January 2012 / Published: 20 January 2012
(This article belongs to the Section Biochemistry)
Abstract
Autophagy is activated by various stresses, including DNA damage, and previous studies of DNA damage-induced autophagy have focused on the response to chemotherapeutic drugs, ionizing radiation, and reactive oxygen species. In this study, we investigated the biological significance of autophagic response to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in A549 and H1299 cells. Our results indicated that UV induces on-rate autophagic flux in these cells. Autophagy inhibition resulting from the knockdown of beclin-1 and Atg5 reduced cell viability and enhanced apoptosis. Moreover, we found that ATR phosphorylation was accompanied by microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3B II (LC3B-II) expression during the early phases following UV irradiation, which is a well-established inducer of ATR. Knocking down ATR further attenuated the reduction in LC3B-II at early stages in response to UV treatment. Despite the potential role of ATR in autophagic response, reduced ATR expression does not affect autophagy induction during late phases (24 and 48 h after UV treatment). The result is consistent with the reduced ATR phosphorylation at the same time points and suggests that autophagic response at this stage is activated via a distinct pathway. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that autophagy acts as a cytoprotective mechanism against UV-induced apoptosis and that autophagy induction accompanied with apoptosis at late stages is independent of ATR activation. View Full-Text
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0).
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Chen, L.-H.; Chu, P.-M.; Lee, Y.-J.; Tu, P.-H.; Chi, C.-W.; Lee, H.-C.; Chiou, S.-H. Targeting Protective Autophagy Exacerbates UV-Triggered Apoptotic Cell Death. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012, 13, 1209-1224.
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