title: Protein misfolding disorders and macroautophagy.
abstract: A large group of diseases, termed protein misfolding disorders, share the common feature of the accumulation of misfolded proteins. The possibility of a common mechanism underlying either the pathogenesis or therapy for these diseases is appealing. Thus, there is great interest in the role of protein degradation via autophagy in such conditions where the protein is found in the cytoplasm. Here we review the growing evidence supporting a role for autophagic dysregulation as a contributing factor to protein accumulation and cellular toxicity in certain protein misfolding disorders and discuss the available evidence that upregulation of autophagy may be a valuable therapeutic strategy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics, Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB 0XY, UK.
authors.forename: Fiona M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Menzies
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moreau
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Rubinsztein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy; D006801:Humans; D017510:Protein Folding; D057165:Proteostasis Deficiencies / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015398:Signal Transduction; D015854:Up-Regulation