The Role of Endolysosome-autophagic System in the Pathological Process of Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract: Autophagy is an intracellular degradation pathway depended on lysosome that functions in protein and organelle turnover in response to starvation and cellular stress. Endosome is a kind of organelle with monolayer membrane structure formed by endocytosis. Extracellular abnormal proteins internalized by endocytosis can also pass through early endosomes to autophagosome or late endosome/lysosome for degradation. As the autophagic vacuole and endosome are similar in morphology and function， they are called endolysosome-autophagic system. β amyloid (Aβ) and hyperphosphorylated Tau as two major abnormal proteins of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) can be cleared by endolysosome-autophagic system. Endolysosomal and autophagy dysfunctions in AD may also be linked via an underappreciated pathomorphological feature of this disease， namely the granulovacuolar degeneration (GVD) bodies. Therefore， endolysosomal-autophagic system plays an important role in the pathological process of Alzheimer’s disease. A growing number of research suggested that regulation of this system could become a new target and direction in therapy of Alzheimer’s disease.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2015.12.0015