自噬与动脉粥样硬化

Relationship between autophagy and atherosclerosis

自噬是通过溶酶体系统降解长半衰期蛋白质和细胞器的过程,在环境压力(如营养匮乏、缺氧、氧化应激、内质网应激、暴露于有害物质)下被活化。研究表明,血管平滑肌细胞、巨噬细胞、内皮细胞与促动脉粥样硬化的因素作用时表现出自噬的特征。整体动物实验表明,动脉粥样硬化斑块中亦存在血管细胞自噬,说明自噬参与并调节着动脉粥样硬化的发生发展过程。

Autophagy occurs in the degradation process of long half-life proteins in ageed organelles through the lysosomal system, which can be activated under certain ambient pressure such as nutritional deprivation, hypoxia, oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress and harmful substances. Studies have showed that vascular smooth muscle cells, macrophages and endothelial cells display characteristics of autophagy when exposed to pro-atherogenic factors. Moreover, autophagy of vascular cells was found in atherosclerotic lesion, which means that autophagy is involved in regulating the formation and progression of atherosclerosis.