title: The roles of autophagy in vascular smooth muscle cells.
abstract: Autophagy, which is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism and links to several cellular pathways, impacts vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) survival and function. Activation of autophagy by intercellular and/or extracellular stimuli has protective effects on VSMCs against cell death, while on the contrary, overloading autophagy has been recognized as a deleterious process by excessive self-digestion. Alterations in autophagy has been documented in VSMC in response to various stimuli, resulting in modulation of VSMC functions, including proliferation, migration, matrix secretion, contraction/relaxation, and differentiation. Each of these changes in VSMC functions plays a critical role in the development of vascular diseases. Importantly, emerging evidence demonstrates that autophagy deficiency in VSMCs would contribute to atherosclerosis and restenosis, shedding novel light on therapeutic target of the vascular disorders. Herein, this review summarizes the recent progress associated with the roles of autophagy in VSMC and offers the perspectives to several challenges and future directions for further studies.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Univ. of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Dept. of Cardiology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Shi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tai
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Cardiology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Xin-Qun
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Cardiology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Dao-Quan
authors.initials: DQ
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Cardiology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China. Electronic address: zhoushenghua_guo@163.com.
authors.forename: Sheng-Hua
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Univ. of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Dept. of Cardiology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China. Electronic address: xlzheng@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: Xi-Long
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D032389:Myocytes, Smooth Muscle / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Apoptosis; Autophagy; Cell cycle; Vascular diseases; Vascular smooth muscle cells