Dysfunction of ATG7-dependent autophagy dysregulates the antioxidant response and contributes to oxidative stress-induced biological impairments in human epidermal melanocytes

Autophagy is a process involving the self-digestion of components that participates in anti-oxidative stress responses and protects cells against oxidative damage. However, the role of autophagy in the anti-oxidative stress responses of melanocytes remains unclear. To investigate the role of autopha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cell death discovery 2020-05, Vol.6 (1), p.31, Article 31
Main Authors: Qiao, Zhuhui, Xu, Zhongyi, Xiao, Qing, Yang, Yiwen, Ying, Jiayi, Xiang, Leihong, Zhang, Chengfeng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/80/39/2346
692/699/4033/4034
Antioxidants
Apoptosis
Autophagy
Biochemistry
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cell Biology
Cell Cycle Analysis
Cellular stress response
Homeostasis
Life Sciences
Melanin
Melanocytes
Oxidation
Oxidative stress
Phagocytosis
Reactive oxygen species
Senescence
Stem Cells
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Summary:Autophagy is a process involving the self-digestion of components that participates in anti-oxidative stress responses and protects cells against oxidative damage. However, the role of autophagy in the anti-oxidative stress responses of melanocytes remains unclear. To investigate the role of autophagy in human epidermal melanocytes, we knocked down and overexpressed ATG7, the critical gene of autophagy, in normal human epidermal melanocytes. We demonstrated that ATG7-dependent autophagy could affect melanin content of melanocytes by regulating melanogenesis. Moreover, suppression of ATG7-dependent autophagy inhibits proliferation and promotes oxidative stress-induced apoptosis of melanocytes, whereas enhancement of ATG7-dependent autophagy protects melanocytes from oxidative stress-induced apoptosis. Meanwhile, deficiency of ATG7-dependent autophagy results in premature senescence of melanocytes under oxidative stress. Notably, we verified that ATG7-dependent autophagy could alter oxidative stress homeostasis by regulating reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) antioxidant pathway, and the activity of several antioxidant enzymes in melanocytes. In conclusion, our study suggested that ATG7-dependent autophagy is indispensable for redox homeostasis and the biological functions of melanocytes, such as melanogenesis, proliferation, apoptosis, and senescence, especially under oxidative stress.
ISSN:2058-7716
2058-7716
DOI:10.1038/s41420-020-0266-3