Calpain-mediated cleavage of Atg5 switches autophagy to apoptosis

Yousefi, Shida; Perozzo, Remo; Schmid, Inès; Ziemiecki, Andrew; Schaffner, Thomas; Scapozza, Leonardo; Brunner, Thomas; Simon, Hans-Uwe (2006). Calpain-mediated cleavage of Atg5 switches autophagy to apoptosis. Nature cell biology, 8(10), pp. 1124-32. London: Nature Publishing Group 10.1038/ncb1482

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Autophagy-related gene (Atg) 5 is a gene product required for the formation of autophagosomes. Here, we report that Atg5, in addition to the promotion of autophagy, enhances susceptibility towards apoptotic stimuli. Enforced expression of Atg5-sensitized tumour cells to anticancer drug treatment both in vitro and in vivo. In contrast, silencing the Atg5 gene with short interfering RNA (siRNA) resulted in partial resistance to chemotherapy. Apoptosis was associated with calpain-mediated Atg5 cleavage, resulting in an amino-terminal cleavage product with a relative molecular mass of 24,000 (Mr 24K). Atg5 cleavage was observed independent of the cell type and the apoptotic stimulus, suggesting that calpain activation and Atg5 cleavage are general phenomena in apoptotic cells. Truncated Atg5 translocated from the cytosol to mitochondria, associated with the anti-apoptotic molecule Bcl-xL and triggered cytochrome c release and caspase activation. Taken together, calpain-mediated Atg5 cleavage provokes apoptotic cell death, therefore, represents a molecular link between autophagy and apoptosis--a finding with potential importance for clinical anticancer therapies.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Pharmacology 04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > BioMedical Research (DBMR) > DCR Unit Tiefenau Hospital [discontinued] > Forschungsgruppe Biologie und Karzinogenese der Brustdrüse [discontinued] 04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute of Pathology
UniBE Contributor:	Yousefi, Shida, Ziemiecki, Andrew, Schaffner, Thomas, Brunner, Thomas (A), Simon, Hans-Uwe
ISSN:	1465-7392
ISBN:	16998475
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
Language:	English
Submitter:	Factscience Import
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2013 14:45
Last Modified:	29 Mar 2023 23:32
Publisher DOI:	10.1038/ncb1482
PubMed ID:	16998475
Web of Science ID:	000241395300017
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/18753 (FactScience: 991)