-l-phenylalanine 2-naphthylamide; LAMP1, lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1; Leup, leupeptin; MAP1LC3, microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3;MTOR, mechanistic target of rapamycin; RFP, red fluorescent protein; tfLC3, tandem fluorescence-tagged LC3.Autophagy is a catabolic lysosomal degradation process essential for cellular homeostasis and cell survival. Dysfunctional autophagy has been associated with a wide range of human diseases, e.g., cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. A large number of small molecules that modulate autophagy have been widely used to dissect this process and some of them, e.g., chloroquine (CQ), might be ultimately applied to treat a variety of autophagy-associated human diseases. Here we found that vacuolin-1 potently and reversibly inhibited the fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes in mammalian cells, thereby inducing the accumulation of autophagosomes. Interestingly, vacuolin-1 was less toxic but at least 10-fold more potent in inhibiting autophagy compared with CQ. Vacuolin-1 treatment also blocked the fusion between endosomes and lysosomes, resulting in a defect in general endosomal-lysosomal degradation. Treatment of cells with vacuolin-1 alkalinized lysosomal pH and decreased lysosomal Ca 2C content. Besides marginally inhibiting vacuolar ATPase activity, vacuolin-1 treatment markedly activated RAB5A GTPase activity. Expression of a dominant negative mutant of RAB5A or RAB5A knockdown significantly inhibited vacuolin-1-induced autophagosome-lysosome fusion blockage, whereas expression of a constitutive active form of RAB5A suppressed autophagosome-lysosome fusion. These data suggest that vacuolin-1 activates RAB5A to block autophagosome-lysosome fusion. Vacuolin-1 and its analogs present a novel class of drug that can potently and reversibly modulate autophagy. IntroductionAmong 3 types of autophagy, including microautophagy, chaperone-mediated autophagy, and macroautophagy, in mammals, macroautophagy (hereafter referred as autophagy) is the most common type. Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved catabolic degradation cellular process in which misfolded proteins or damaged organelles are first sequestered by a doublemembrane vesicle, called an autophagosome. Autophagosomes then fuse with lysosomes to form autolysosomes, inside which the sequestered contents are digested by lysosomal enzymes and recycled to maintain cellular homeostasis. Autophagy can also be markedly induced by a wide variety of stresses, e.g., nutrient starvation, infection, and aging, for cell survival. Dysfunctional autophagy has been associated with wide ranges of human diseases, e.g., cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Basal autophagy activity is essential for cell homeostasis, and it is tightly controlled by a complicated interplay among several key machineries, including ULK1 or ULK2 complexes and the class III phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase complexes. The MTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin) Ser/Thr kinase suppresses autophagy by inhibiting the ULK1/2 comple...

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely used in China for thousands of years to treat and prevent diseases. TCM has been proven safe and effective, and it is being considered as one of the important types of complementary and alternative medicine and receives increasing attention worldwide. The dried root of Polygonum cuspidatum Sieb. et Zucc. (also known as “Hu Zhang” in Chinese) is one of the medicinal herbs listed in the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China. Hu Zhang is widely distributed in the world. It can be found in Asia and North America and is used as folk medicine in countries such as Japan and Korea. In China, Hu Zhang is usually used in combination with other TCM herbs. The therapeutic uses of those Hu Zhang-containing TCM prescriptions or formulations are for treating cough, hepatitis, jaundice, amenorrhea, leucorrhea, arthralgia, burns and snake bites. Recent pharmacological and clinical studies have indicated that Hu Zhang has antiviral, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and cardioprotective functions. This review gives a summary of the reported therapeutic effects of the active compounds and the different extracts of Hu Zhang.

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