The role of epigenetics and non-coding RNAs in autophagy: A new perspective for thorough understanding

• Published in: Mechanisms of ageing and development 2020-09, Vol.190, p.111309-111309, Article 111309
• Main Authors: Talebian, Shahrzad, Daghagh, Hossein, Yousefi, Bahman, Ȍzkul, Yusuf, Ilkhani, Khandan, Seif, Farhad, Alivand, Mohammad Reza
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Autophagy; DNA methylation; Histone modification; LncRNA; miRNA
• ISSN: 0047-6374; 1872-6216
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mad.2020.111309

•Autophagy is a lysosomal catabolic pathway are important in pathogenesis of related disease.•DNA methylation and histone modifications lead to perform autophagy-related mechanisms.•The related noncoding-RNAs such as miRNAs and lncRNAs significantly regulate ATG genes to control of autophagic responses in neurodegenerative, cancer and inflammatory diseases.•In this regard, there are considerable factors for applying in prognostic and diagnostic route and therapeutic aims strategy to regulate autophagic-related diseases that needs basical and clinical studies. Autophagy is a major self-degradative intracellular process required for the maintenance of homeostasis and promotion of survival in response to starvation. It plays critical roles in a large variety of physiological and pathological processes. On the other hand, aberrant regulation of autophagy can lead to various cancers and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Crohn’s disease. Emerging evidence strongly supports that epigenetic signatures, related non-coding RNA profiles, and their cross-talking are significantly associated with the control of autophagic responses. Therefore, it may be helpful and promising to manage autophagic processes by finding valuable markers and therapeutic approaches. Although there is a great deal of information on the components of autophagy in the cytoplasm, the molecular basis of the epigenetic regulation of autophagy has not been completely elucidated. In this review, we highlight recent research on epigenetic changes through the expression of autophagy-related genes (ATGs), which regulate autophagy, DNA methylation, histone modifications as well as non-coding RNAs, including long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs) and their relationship with human diseases, that play key roles in causing autophagy-related diseases.