Autophagic Degradation Is Involved in Cell Protection against Ricin Toxin.

ABSTRACT: Autophagy is a complex and highly regulated degradative process, which acts as a survival pathway in response to cellular stress, starvation and pathogen infection. Ricin toxin is a plant toxin produced by the castor bean and classified as a category B biothreat agent. Ricin toxin inhibits cellular protein synthesis by catalytically inactivating ribosomes, leading to cell death. Currently, there is no licensed treatment for patients exposed to ricin. Ricin-induced apoptosis has been extensively studied; however, whether its intoxication via protein synthesis inhibition affects autophagy is not yet resolved. In this work, we demonstrated that ricin intoxication is accompanied by its own autophagic degradation in mammalian cells. Autophagy deficiency, by knocking down ATG5, attenuates ricin

SUBMITTER: Wu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10222476 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature