Autophagy: a new pathway for traditional Chinese medicine |
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Authors: | Bing Cui Jin-Mei Yu |
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Affiliation: | State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Functions of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China |
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Abstract: | Autophagy is a major intracellular degradation pathway that sequesters multiple cytoplasmic components, including accumulated proteins, damaged organelles, or invading micro-organisms and delivers them to lysosomes for degradation. Autophagy dysregulation is implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple diseases, such as aging, cancers, diabetes. The latest insights into molecular mechanisms of autophagy lead to the discovery of potential drug targets. Traditional drugs with new clinical applications are not only commonly found in western medicines, but also highlighted in traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). Recent research findings shed light on the potential novel applications and formulation of TCMs via regulation of autophagy, indicating autophagy modulation may be an important mechanism underlying the therapeutic effect of TCMs in treating diseases. Here, we summarize the roles of autophagy in the pharmacological actions of TCMs and discuss to discover ideal autophagy modulators from TCMs with considerably higher selectivity for various human disease treatment. |
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Keywords: | Autophagy traditional Chinese medicine aging |
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