Autophagy and the Ubiquitin–Proteasome System: Regulators of Protein Homeostasis, Cell Death, and Disease Pathogenesis
A special issue of Current Issues in Molecular Biology (ISSN 1467-3045). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Medicine".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 87
Special Issue Editor
Interests: juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia; leukemogenesis; hematologic malignancies; targeted drug development; protein targets in cancer; phosphatases
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The maintenance of protein homeostasis and organelle integrity and function is crucial for cellular homeostasis and cell viability. All intracellular proteins and most extracellular proteins are constantly being renewed, meaning they are continuously degraded and replaced by newly synthesized proteins. The degradation of intracellular proteins mainly occurs through two pathways: autophagy and the ubiquitin–proteasome system. Autophagy is the principal mechanism that mediates the delivery of various cellular cargoes to lysosomes for degradation and recycling, while the ubiquitin–proteasome system is a highly complex, ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation mechanism that is involved in the degradation of many intracellular proteins with high specificity.
At the molecular level, numerous studies have demonstrated various interactions between these two degradation pathways. Both autophagy and the ubiquitin–proteasome system can utilize ubiquitin as a common tag to degrade ubiquitinated substrates. Proteasomes tagged with ubiquitin can be cleared through autophagy, and autophagy-related proteins can also be degraded via the proteasome system. The two pathways regulate each other's activity, working together to maintain cellular homeostasis.
This Special Issue invites the submission of original research articles and reviews that elucidate the roles and interconnections of autophagy and the ubiquitin–proteasome system, uncovering the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of protein homeostasis and their roles in cell death and disease pathogenesis. We aim to advance our understanding of the pathology related to protein homeostasis and pave the way for innovative therapeutic strategies.
This Special Issue is co-led by Dr. Qin Xia from Beijing Institute of Technology, and Dr. Shuai Fan from Beijing Institute of Technology. We thank them for their contribution and involvement in proposing, promoting, and developing the Special Issue.
Dr. Lei Dong
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- autophagy
- ubiquitin–proteasome system
- protein homeostasis
- autophagosome
- cell death regulation
- cancer
- Alzheimer's disease
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