Impaired turnover of autophagolysosomes in cathepsin L deficiency.
August 2010
Dennemärker J, Lohmüller T, Müller S, Aguilar SV, Tobin DJ, Peters C, Reinheckel T.
Biol Chem. 391(8):913-22
Endocytosis and macroautophagy are the major cellular processes for macromolecule delivery to the lysosome, where the macromolecular substrates are degraded by the acidic lysosomal hydrolases. Because cathepsin L is known to be a potent lysosomal protease, we investigated autophagy in the absence of cathepsin L. Initiation of autophagy, the formation of autophagosomes or autophagosome-lysosome fusion were not affected by cathepsin L deficiency, but degradation of autophagolysosomal content was impaired in the absence of the protease.