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Dysregulation of autophagic pathways leads to accumulation of abnormal proteins and damaged organelles in many neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD) and Lewy body dementia (LBD). Autophagy-related dysfunction may also trigger secretion and spread of misfolded proteins, such as α-synuclein (α-syn), the major misfolded protein found in PD/LBD. However, the mechanism underlying these phenomena remains largely unknown. Here, we used cell-based models, including human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons, CRISPR/Cas9 technology, and male transgenic PD/LBD mice, plus vetting in human postmortem brains (both male and female). We provide mechanistic insight into this pathologic pathway. We find that aberrant S-nitrosylation of the autophagic adaptor protein p62 causes inhibition of autophagic flux and intracellular buildup of misfolded proteins, with consequent secretion resulting in cell-to-cell spread. Thus, our data show that pathologic protein S-nitrosylation of p62 represents a critical factor not only for autophagic inhibition and demise of individual neurons, but also for α-syn release and spread of disease throughout the nervous system.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia, dysfunctional autophagy contributes to accumulation and spread of aggregated α-synuclein. Here, we provide evidence that protein S-nitrosylation of p62 inhibits autophagic flux, contributing to α-synuclein aggregation and spread.

Activation of non-shivering thermogenesis is considered a promising approach to lower body weight in obesity. p62 deficiency in adipocytes reduces systemic energy expenditure but its role in sustaining mitochondrial function and thermogenesis remains unresolved. NBR1 shares a remarkable structural similarity with p62 and can interact with p62 through their respective PB1 domains. However, the physiological relevance of NBR1 in metabolism, as compared to that of p62, was not clear. Here we show that whole-body and adipocyte-specific ablation of NBR1 reverts the obesity phenotype induced by p62 deficiency by restoring global energy expenditure and thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue. Impaired adrenergic-induced browning of p62-deficient adipocytes is rescued by NBR1 inactivation, unveiling a negative role of NBR1 in thermogenesis under conditions of p62 loss. We demonstrate that upon p62 inactivation, NBR1 represses the activity of PPARγ, establishing an unexplored p62/NBR1-mediated paradigm in adipocyte thermogenesis that is critical for the control of obesity.

Many cancers, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), depend on autophagy-mediated scavenging and recycling of intracellular macromolecules, suggesting that autophagy blockade should cause tumor starvation and regression. However, until now autophagy-inhibiting monotherapies have not demonstrated potent anti-cancer activity. We now show that autophagy blockade prompts established PDAC to upregulate and utilize an alternative nutrient procurement pathway: macropinocytosis (MP) that allows tumor cells to extract nutrients from extracellular sources and use them for energy generation. The autophagy to MP switch, which may be evolutionarily conserved and not cancer cell restricted, depends on activation of transcription factor NRF2 by the autophagy adaptor p62/SQSTM1. NRF2 activation by oncogenic mutations, hypoxia, and oxidative stress also results in MP upregulation. Inhibition of MP in autophagy-compromised PDAC elicits dramatic metabolic decline and regression of transplanted and autochthonous tumors, suggesting the therapeutic promise of combining autophagy and MP inhibitors in the clinic.

Benign hepatosteatosis, affected by lipid uptake, de novo lipogenesis and fatty acid (FA) oxidation, progresses to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) on stress and inflammation. A key macronutrient proposed to increase hepatosteatosis and NASH risk is fructose. Excessive intake of fructose causes intestinal-barrier deterioration and endotoxaemia. However, how fructose triggers these alterations and their roles in hepatosteatosis and NASH pathogenesis remain unknown. Here we show, using mice, that microbiota-derived Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists promote hepatosteatosis without affecting fructose-1-phosphate (F1P) and cytosolic acetyl-CoA. Activation of mucosal-regenerative gp130 signalling, administration of the YAP-induced matricellular protein CCN1 or expression of the antimicrobial peptide Reg3b (beta) peptide counteract fructose-induced barrier deterioration, which depends on endoplasmic-reticulum stress and subsequent endotoxaemia. Endotoxin engages TLR4 to trigger TNF production by liver macrophages, thereby inducing lipogenic enzymes that convert F1P and acetyl-CoA to FA in both mouse and human hepatocytes.

Oxidative stress plays a critical role in liver tissue damage and in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) initiation and progression. However, the mechanisms that regulate autophagy and metabolic reprogramming during reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and how ROS promote tumorigenesis, still need to be fully understood. We show that protein kinase C (PKC) λ/ι loss in hepatocytes promotes autophagy and oxidative phosphorylation. This results in ROS generation, which through NRF2 drives HCC through cell-autonomous and non-autonomous mechanisms. Although PKCλ/ι promotes tumorigenesis in oncogene-driven cancer models, emerging evidence demonstrate that it is a tumor suppressor in more complex carcinogenic processes. Consistently, PKCλ/ι levels negatively correlate with HCC histological tumor grade, establishing this kinase as a tumor suppressor in liver cancer.

Background & aimsHepatomegaly can be triggered by insulin and insulin-unrelated etiologies. Insulin acts via AKT, but how other challenges cause hepatomegaly is unknown.MethodsSince many hepatomegaly-inducing toxicants and stressors activate NRF2, we examined the effect of NRF2 activation on liver size and metabolism using a conditional allele encoding a constitutively active NRF2 variant to generate Nrf2Act-hep mice in which NRF2 is selectively activated in hepatocytes. We also used adenoviruses encoding variants of the autophagy adaptor p62/SQSTM1, which activates liver NRF2, as well as liver-specific ATG7-deficient mice (Atg7Δhep) and liver specimens from patients with hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (HSOS) and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). RNA sequencing and cell signaling analyses were used to determine cellular consequences of NRF2 activation and diverse histological analyses were used to study effects of the different manipulations on liver and systemic pathophysiology.ResultsHepatocyte-specific NRF2 activation, due to p62 accumulation or inhibition of KEAP1 binding, led to hepatomegaly associated with enhanced glycogenosis, steatosis and G2/M cell cycle arrest, fostering hyperplasia without cell division. Surprisingly, all manipulations that led to NRF2 activation also activated AKT, whose inhibition blocked NRF2-induced hepatomegaly and glycogenosis, but not NRF2-dependent antioxidant gene induction. AKT activation was linked to NRF2-mediated transcriptional induction of PDGF and EGF receptor ligands that signaled through their cognate receptors in an autocrine manner. Insulin and insulin-like growth factors were not involved. The NRF2-AKT signaling axis was also activated in human HSOS- and AIH-related hepatomegaly.ConclusionsNRF2, a transcription factor readily activated by xenobiotics, oxidative stress and autophagy disruptors, may be a common mediator of hepatomegaly; its effects on hepatic metabolism can be reversed by AKT/tyrosine kinase inhibitors.Lay summaryHepatomegaly can be triggered by numerous etiological factors, including infections, liver cancer, metabolic disturbances, toxicant exposure, as well as alcohol abuse or drug-induced hepatitis. This study identified the oxidative stress response transcription factor NRF2 as a common mediator of hepatomegaly. NRF2 activation results in elevated expression of several growth factors. These growth factors are made by hepatocytes and activate their receptors in an autocrine fashion to stimulate the accumulation of glycogen and lipids that lead to hepatocyte and liver enlargement. The protein kinase AKT plays a key role in this process and its inhibition leads to reversal of hepatomegaly.

Despite expression of oncogenic KRAS, premalignant pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia 1 (PanIN1) lesions rarely become fully malignant pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The molecular mechanisms through which established risk factors, such as chronic pancreatitis, acinar cell damage, and/or defective autophagy increase the likelihood of PDAC development are poorly understood. We show that accumulation of the autophagy substrate p62/SQSTM1 in stressed KrasG12D acinar cells is associated with PDAC development and maintenance of malignancy in human cells and mice. p62 accumulation promotes neoplastic progression by controlling the NRF2-mediated induction of MDM2, which acts through p53-dependent and -independent mechanisms to abrogate checkpoints that prevent conversion of differentiated acinar cells to proliferative ductal progenitors. MDM2 targeting may be useful for preventing PDAC development in high-risk individuals.

Global miRNA functional screens can offer a strategy to identify synthetic lethal interactions in cancer cells that might be exploited therapeutically. In this study, we applied this strategy to identify novel gene interactions in KRAS-mutant cancer cells. In this manner, we discovered miR-1298, a novel miRNA that inhibited the growth of KRAS-driven cells both in vitro and in vivo Using miR-TRAP affinity purification technology, we identified the tyrosine kinase FAK and the laminin subunit LAMB3 as functional targets of miR-1298. Silencing of FAK or LAMB3 recapitulated the synthetic lethal effects of miR-1298 expression in KRAS-driven cancer cells, whereas coexpression of both proteins was critical to rescue miR-1298-induced cell death. Expression of LAMB3 but not FAK was upregulated by mutant KRAS. In clinical specimens, elevated LAMB3 expression correlated with poorer survival in lung cancer patients with an oncogenic KRAS gene signature, suggesting a novel candidate biomarker in this disease setting. Our results define a novel regulatory pathway in KRAS-driven cancers, which offers a potential therapeutic target for their eradication. Cancer Res; 76(19); 5777-87. ©2016 AACR.

Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) play critical roles in liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Vitamin D receptor (VDR) activation in HSCs inhibits liver inflammation and fibrosis. We found that p62/SQSTM1, a protein upregulated in liver parenchymal cells but downregulated in HCC-associated HSCs, negatively controls HSC activation. Total body or HSC-specific p62 ablation potentiates HSCs and enhances inflammation, fibrosis, and HCC progression. p62 directly interacts with VDR and RXR promoting their heterodimerization, which is critical for VDR:RXR target gene recruitment. Loss of p62 in HSCs impairs the repression of fibrosis and inflammation by VDR agonists. This demonstrates that p62 is a negative regulator of liver inflammation and fibrosis through its ability to promote VDR signaling in HSCs, whose activation supports HCC.

Adaptor proteins participate in selective autophagy, which is critical for cellular detoxification and stress relief. However, new evidence supports an autophagy-independent key role of the adaptor p62 (encoded by the gene Sqstm1) in signaling functions central to tumor initiation in the epithelium and suppression of tumor progression in the stroma.

Paneth cells are a highly specialized population of intestinal epithelial cells located in the crypt adjacent to Lgr5(+) stem cells, from which they differentiate through a process that requires downregulation of the Notch pathway. Their ability to store and release antimicrobial peptides protects the host from intestinal pathogens and controls intestinal inflammation. Here, we show that PKCλ/ι is required for Paneth cell differentiation at the level of Atoh1 and Gfi1, through the control of EZH2 stability by direct phosphorylation. The selective inactivation of PKCλ/ι in epithelial cells results in the loss of mature Paneth cells, increased apoptosis and inflammation, and enhanced tumorigenesis. Importantly, PKCλ/ι expression in human Paneth cells decreases with progression of Crohn's disease. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients revealed that low PRKCI levels correlated with significantly worse patient survival rates. Therefore, PKCλ/ι is a negative regulator of intestinal inflammation and cancer through its role in Paneth cell homeostasis.

p62 is a ubiquitin-binding autophagy receptor and signaling protein that accumulates in premalignant liver diseases and most hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). Although p62 was proposed to participate in the formation of benign adenomas in autophagy-deficient livers, its role in HCC initiation was not explored. Here we show that p62 is necessary and sufficient for HCC induction in mice and that its high expression in non-tumor human liver predicts rapid HCC recurrence after curative ablation. High p62 expression is needed for activation of NRF2 and mTORC1, induction of c-Myc, and protection of HCC-initiating cells from oxidative stress-induced death.

Nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), a key activator of inflammation, primes the NLRP3-inflammasome for activation by inducing pro-IL-1β and NLRP3 expression. NF-κB, however, also prevents excessive inflammation and restrains NLRP3-inflammasome activation through a poorly defined mechanism. We now show that NF-κB exerts its anti-inflammatory activity by inducing delayed accumulation of the autophagy receptor p62/SQSTM1. External NLRP3-activating stimuli trigger a form of mitochondrial (mt) damage that is caspase-1- and NLRP3-independent and causes release of direct NLRP3-inflammasome activators, including mtDNA and mtROS. Damaged mitochondria undergo Parkin-dependent ubiquitin conjugation and are specifically recognized by p62, which induces their mitophagic clearance. Macrophage-specific p62 ablation causes pronounced accumulation of damaged mitochondria and excessive IL-1β-dependent inflammation, enhancing macrophage death. Therefore, the "NF-κB-p62-mitophagy" pathway is a macrophage-intrinsic regulatory loop through which NF-κB restrains its own inflammation-promoting activity and orchestrates a self-limiting host response that maintains homeostasis and favors tissue repair.

The tumor microenvironment plays a critical role in cancer progression, but the precise mechanisms by which stromal cells influence the epithelium are poorly understood. Here we show that p62 levels were reduced in the stroma of several tumors and that its loss in the tumor microenvironment or stromal fibroblasts resulted in increased tumorigenesis of epithelial prostate cancer cells. The mechanism involves the regulation of cellular redox through an mTORC1/c-Myc pathway of stromal glucose and amino acid metabolism, resulting in increased stromal IL-6 production, which is required for tumor promotion in the epithelial compartment. Thus, p62 is an anti-inflammatory tumor suppressor that acts through the modulation of metabolism in the tumor stroma.