Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 5, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5834
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases/American Liver Foundation,American Diabetes Association [1-13-BS-106]
- Ellison Medical Foundation [AG- NS- 0932- 12]
- NIH [P30-AG024824, P30-AG013283, P30-DK034933, P30- DK089503, P30-CA046592]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Autophagy deregulation during obesity contributes to the pathogenesis of diverse metabolic disorders. However, without understanding the molecular mechanism of obesity interference in autophagy, development of therapeutic strategies for correcting such defects in obese individuals is challenging. Here we show that a chronic increase of the cytosolic calcium concentration in hepatocytes during obesity and lipotoxicity attenuates autophagic flux by preventing the fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes. As a pharmacological approach to restore cytosolic calcium homeostasis in vivo, we administered the clinically approved calcium channel blocker verapamil to obese mice. Such treatment successfully increases autophagosome-lysosome fusion in liver, preventing accumulation of protein inclusions and lipid droplets and suppressing inflammation and insulin resistance. As calcium channel blockers have been safely used in clinics for the treatment of hypertension for more than 30 years, our results suggest they may be a safe therapeutic option for restoring autophagic flux and treating metabolic pathologies in obese patients.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available