Autophagy in Parkinson's Disease

Xu Hou, Jens O. Watzlawik, Fabienne C. Fiesel, Wolfdieter Springer

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

Impaired protein homeostasis and accumulation of damaged or abnormally modified protein are common disease mechanisms in many neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD). As one of the major degradation pathways, autophagy plays a pivotal role in maintaining effective turnover of proteins and damaged organelles in cells. Several decades of research efforts led to insights into the potential contribution of impaired autophagy machinery to α-synuclein accumulation and the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, two major features of PD pathology. In this review, we summarize recent pathological, genetic, and mechanistic findings that link defective autophagy with PD pathogenesis in human patients, animals, and cellular models and discuss current challenges in the field.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2651-2672
Number of pages22
JournalJournal of Molecular Biology
Volume432
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 3 2020

Keywords

  • Parkinson's disease
  • chaperone-mediated autophagy
  • macroautophagy
  • mitophagy
  • α-synuclein

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology
  • Biophysics
  • Structural Biology

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