The physiological role of autophagy in the intestinal epithelial cells

Research Project

Project/Area Number	25860158
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	General physiology
Research Institution	Tokyo Medical and Dental University
Principal Investigator	JUMPEI Asano 東京医科歯科大学, 難治疾患研究所, 特任助教 (70463809)
Project Period (FY)	2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,290,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥990,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000) Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
Keywords	上皮機能 / オートファジー
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Autophagy is one of the essential systems to degrade denatured-proteins and damaged-organelles in the cytosol, and maintain cellular homeostasis. In this study, we focus on intestinal epithelial cell (iEC) and addressed the role of autophagy in iEC homeostasis under steady-state and stress conditions. The mice in which lack autophagy in iEC show impaired iEC regeneration after irradiation, including the significantly reduction of Lgr5+-intestinal stem cells (ISCs) and dysfunction of mitochondria in transit-amplifying (TA) cells. Our study revealed that Autophagy plays an important role for iEC regeneration through maintaining the homeostasis of Lgr5+- ISCs and TA cells.