In Vivo Suppression of Autophagy via Lentiviral shRNA Targeting Atg5 Improves Lupus-Like Syndrome.

ABSTRACT: In both mouse models and clinical patients with lupus, autophagy levels were significantly elevated and correlated with disease activity. Furthermore, autophagy can promote the survival of B and T cells, plasma cell differentiation, and antibody production. These results suggest that autophagy may promote the progression of lupus by regulating the survival of autoreactive immune cells. Therefore, we aimed at studying whether suppressing autophagy can modulate lupus progression in vivo. First, we found that the autophagy levels in splenocytes and lymphocytes of peripheral blood (PB) were elevated and positively correlated with disease severity in lupus-prone mice. The shAtg5-lentivirus, which effectively inhibits autophagy in vitro, was then injected into the lupus-prone mice.

SUBMITTER: Liu CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7212279 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature