Autophagy and heterophagy dysregulation leads to retinal pigment epithelium dysfunction and development of age-related macular degeneration

Kai Kaarniranta, Debasish Sinha, Janusz Blasiak, Anu Kauppinen, Zoltán Veréb, Antero Salminen, Michael E. Boulton, Goran Petrovski

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

199 Scopus citations

Abstract

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a complex, degenerative and progressive eye disease that usually does not lead to complete blindness, but can result in severe loss of central vision. Risk factors for AMD include age, genetics, diet, smoking, oxidative stress and many cardiovascular-associated risk factors. Autophagy is a cellular housekeeping process that removes damaged organelles and protein aggregates, whereas heterophagy, in the case of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), is the phagocytosis of exogenous photoreceptor outer segments. Numerous studies have demonstrated that both autophagy and heterophagy are highly active in the RPE. To date, there is increasing evidence that constant oxidative stress impairs autophagy and heterophagy, as well as increases protein aggregation and causes inflammasome activation leading to the pathological phenotype of AMD. This review ties together these crucial pathological topics and reflects upon autophagy as a potential therapeutic target in AMD.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)973-984
Number of pages12
JournalAutophagy
Volume9
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • AMD
  • Autophagy
  • Heterophagy
  • Inflammasome
  • Lysosome
  • Oxidative stress
  • Phagocytosis
  • Proteasome
  • RPE

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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