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Semin Liver Dis 2018; 38(04): 308-319
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1669939
Review Article
Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Homeostatic Role of Autophagy in Hepatocytes

Bilon Khambu
1   Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
,
Shengmin Yan
1   Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
,
Nazmul Huda
1   Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
,
Gang Liu
1   Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
,
Xiao-Ming Yin
1   Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
24 October 2018 (online)

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Abstract

Autophagy actively participates in the physiological process of the liver. While the direct effect of autophagy may be limited to the sequestration and degradation of a selective cargo, its overall impact can be broad, affecting many more physiological processes regulated by the particular cargo. This review will discuss two aspects of the importance of autophagy in the liver: metabolic regulation in response to feeding and starvation, and pathological consequences in the absence of autophagy. These two aspects illustrate the homeostatic functions of autophagy in the liver, one in a more direct fashion, regulating the cellular nutrient supply, and the other in a more indirect fashion, controlling the pathological signaling triggered by the abnormal accumulation of cargos. Remarkably, the hepatic pathology in autophagy-deficient livers does not seem different from that presented in other chronic liver diseases. Autophagy deficiency can be a model for the study of the relevant molecular mechanisms.

Keywords

autophagy - ductular reaction - HMGB1 - metabolism - tumorigenesis
 

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