title: Age-related decline in chaperone-mediated autophagy.
abstract: Intracellular protein degradation rates decrease with age in many tissues and organs. In cultured cells, chaperone-mediated autophagy, which is responsible for the selective degradation of cytosolic proteins in lysosomes, decreases with age. In this work we use lysosomes isolated from rat liver to analyze age-related changes in the levels and activities of the main components of chaperone-mediated autophagy. Lysosomes from "old" (22-month-old) rats show lower rates of chaperone-mediated autophagy, and both substrate binding to the lysosomal membrane and transport into lysosomes decline with age. A progressive age-related decrease in the levels of the lysosome-associated membrane protein type 2a that acts as a receptor for chaperone-mediated autophagy was responsible for decreased substrate binding in lysosomes from old rats as well as from late passage human fibroblasts. The cytosolic levels and activity of the 73-kDa heat-shock cognate protein required for substrate targeting to lysosomes were unchanged with age. The levels of lysosome-associated hsc73 were increased only in the oldest rats. This increase may be an attempt to compensate for reduced activity of the pathway with age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, USA.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Cuervo
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Dice
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism; D050883:HSC70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007700:Kinetics; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D051907:Lysosomal Membrane Proteins; D008247:Lysosomes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000378:metabolism*; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D013347:Subcellular Fractions / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D050883:HSC70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; C494371:HSPA8 protein, human; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; C494373:Hspa8 protein, rat; D051907:Lysosomal Membrane Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D011506:Proteins