Role of chaperone‐mediated autophagy in metabolism

Abstract

Different types of autophagy co-exist in most mammalian cells and each of them fulfill very specific tasks in intracellular degradation. Some of this autophagic pathways contribute to cellular metabolism by directly hydrolyzing intracellular lipid stores and glycogen. Chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA), in contrast, is a selective form of autophagy that can only target proteins for lysosomal degradation. Consequently, it was anticipated that the only possible contribution of this pathway to cellular metabolism was by providing free amino acids resulting from protein breakdown. However, recent studies have demonstrated that disturbance in CMA leads to important alterations in glucose and lipid metabolism and in overall organism energetics. Here, we describe the unique mechanisms by which CMA contributes to the regulation of cellular metabolism and discuss the possible implications that these previously unknown functions of CMA could have in the pathogenesis of common metabolic diseases.