期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2010
卷号：107
期号：39
页码：16982-16987
DOI：10.1073/pnas.1004498107
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Autophagy is an intracellular turnover pathway. It has special relevance for neurodegenerative proteinopathies, such as Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, and Huntington disease (HD), which are characterized by the accumulation of misfolded proteins. Although induction of autophagy enhances clearance of misfolded protein and has therefore been suggested as a therapy for proteinopathies, neurons appear to be less responsive to classic autophagy inducers than nonneuronal cells. Searching for improved inducers of neuronal autophagy, we discovered an N10-substituted phenoxazine that, at proper doses, potently and safely up-regulated autophagy in neurons in an Akt- and mTOR-independent fashion. In a neuron model of HD, this compound was neuroprotective and decreased the accumulation of diffuse and aggregated misfolded protein. A structure/activity analysis with structurally similar compounds approved by the US Food and Drug Administration revealed a defined pharmacophore for inducing neuronal autophagy. This pharmacophore should prove useful in studying autophagy in neurons and in developing therapies for neurodegenerative proteinopathies.
