Mechanistic Insights into Selective Autophagy Subtypes in Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Eukaryotic cells possess a plethora of regulatory mechanisms to maintain homeostasis and en-sure proper biochemical functionality. Autophagy, a central, conserved self-consuming process of the cell, ensures the timely degradation of damaged cellular components. Several studies have demonstrated the important roles of autophagy activation in mitigating neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alz-heimer’s disease (AD). However, surprisingly, activation of macroautophagy has not shown clinical ef-ficacy. Hence, alternative strategies are urgently needed for AD therapy. In recent years, selective au-tophagy has been reported to be involved in AD pathology, and different subtypes have been identified, such as aggrephagy, mitophagy, reticulophagy, lipophagy, pexophagy, nucleophagy, lysophagy and ri-bophagy. By clarifying the underlying mechanisms governing these various subtypes, we may come to understand how to control autophagy to treat AD. In this review, we summarize the latest findings concerning the role of selective autophagy in the pathogenesis of AD. The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that selective autophagy is an active mechanism in AD pathology, and that regulating selective autophagy would be an effective strategy for controlling this pathogenesis.