Autophagy and Neurons — Targeting Protein Quality Control for Modifying Proteostasis

Johns Hopkins neurologist Jason Chua recaps a recent presentation about the discovery of a novel mechanism of modulating autophagy, a conserved pathway of protein quality control. He discusses how modulating autophagy can be done specifically in neurons that enhance the breakdown of protein substrates, including those implicated in neurodegeneration. This discovery has broad therapeutic implications for neurodegenerative diseases hallmarked by protein aggregation and loss of protein quality control.