Targeting autophagy and beyond: Deconvoluting the complexity of Beclin-1 from biological function to cancer therapy

Beclin-1 is the firstly-identified mammalian protein of the autophagy machinery, which functions as a molecular scaffold for the assembly of PI3KC3 (class III phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase) complex, thus controlling autophagy induction and other cellular trafficking events. Notably, there is mounting evidence establishing the implications of Beclin-1 in diverse tumorigenesis processes, including tumor suppression and progression as well as resistance to cancer therapeutics and CSC (cancer stem-like cell) maintenance. More importantly, Beclin-1 has been confirmed as a potential target for the treatment of multiple cancers. In this review, we provide a comprehensive survey of the structure, functions, and regulations of Beclin-1, and we discuss recent advances in understanding the controversial roles of Beclin-1 in oncology. Moreover, we focus on summarizing the targeted Beclin-1-regulating strategies in cancer therapy, providing novel insights into a promising strategy for regulating Beclin-1 to improve cancer therapeutics in the future.

Corynoxine B targets at HMGB1/2 to enhance autophagy for α-synuclein clearance in fly and rodent models of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most common neurodegenerative movement disease. It is featured by abnormal alpha-synuclein (α-syn) aggregation in dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Macroautophagy (autophagy) is an evolutionarily conserved cellular process for degradation of cellular contents, including protein aggregates, to maintain cellular homeostasis. Corynoxine B (Cory B), a natural alkaloid isolated from Uncaria rhynchophylla (Miq.) Jacks., has been reported to promote the clearance of α-syn in cell models by inducing autophagy. However, the molecular mechanism by which Cory B induces autophagy is not known, and the α-syn-lowering activity of Cory B has not been verified in animal models. Here, we report that Cory B enhanced the activity of Beclin 1/VPS34 complex and increased autophagy by promoting the interaction between Beclin 1 and HMGB1/2. Depletion of HMGB1/2 impaired Cory B-induced autophagy. We showed for the first time that, similar to HMGB1, HMGB2 is also required for autophagy and depletion of HMGB2 decreased autophagy levels and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase III activity both under basal and stimulated conditions. By applying cellular thermal shift assay, surface plasmon resonance, and molecular docking, we confirmed that Cory B directly binds to HMGB1/2 near the C106 site. Furthermore, in vivo studies with a wild-type α-syn transgenic drosophila model of PD and an A53T α-syn transgenic mouse model of PD, Cory B enhanced autophagy, promoted α-syn clearance and improved behavioral abnormalities. Taken together, the results of this study reveal that Cory B enhances phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase III activity/autophagy by binding to HMGB1/2 and that this enhancement is neuroprotective against PD.

Modulation of nuclear receptor-binding factor 2 on the activity of autophagy initiation complex PI3KC3-C1 / 上海交通大学学报（医学版）

Objective • To study the effects of different phosphorylation levels of nuclear receptor-binding factor 2 (NRBF2) on the activity of class III phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase complex (PI3KC3-C1), and find a type of PI3KC3-C1 with the highest kinase activity as a target for the screening of autophagy-specific inhibitors. Methods • First, in vitro protein purification system was established to obtain quaternary NRBF2-free PI3KC3-C1 and quinary PI3KC3-C1 containing different phosphorylation levels of NRBF2. The integrity of the complex was determined by gel filtration chromatography. The different kinase activity of purified PI3KC3-C1 was detected in vitro, and thus the effect of phosphorylation of NRBF2 on PI3KC3-C1 activity was observed. Results • The purified PI3KC3-C1 had good purity and yield. The five-membered PI3KC3-C1 containing NRBF2 showed higher kinase activity than the quaternary protein complex, and PI3KC3-C1 containing the continuous dephosphorylated NBRF2 had the highest kinase activity. Conclusion • NRBF2 does exist as one of the components of PI3KC3-C1. The presence of NRBF2 promotes the kinase activity of PI3KC3-C1, and PI3KC3-C1 containing continuous dephosphorylation of NRBF2 may serve as a new regulatory target for the screening of autophagy-specific inhibitor.