Figure 1

Implication of autophagy deregulation in Parkinson's disease (PD). There are 3 types of autophagy: macroautophagy, microautophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA). See text for detailed description of the different types of autophagy. Deregulation of both macroautophagy and CMA are implicated in the pathogenesis of PD. CMA is involved in the degradation of soluble wildtype alpha-synuclein, the major constituent of Lewy bodies. Nonetheless, once oligomerized or aggregated, alpha-synuclein is likely degraded by macroautophagy instead of CMA. Interestingly, A53T and A30P mutants of alpha-synuclein are poorly degraded by CMA, but are instead degraded by macroautophagy. Furthermore, the alpha-synuclein mutants inhibit CMA, reducing CMA-mediated degradation of alpha-synuclein and survival factor MEF2D. Concomitant with the inhibition of CMA, overexpression of alpha-synuclein mutants results in a compensatory activation of macroautophagy. Activation of macroautophagy is also evident in cells treated with neurotoxin MPP⁺, a well-established model for Parkinsonism, or following overexpression of GPR37, another protein that is present in Lewy bodies. Finally, recent studies reveal that macroautophagy also plays a role in the turnover of fragmented mitochondria. These observations highlight the potential involvement of the autophagic pathways in the pathogenesis of PD.