Autophagy induction by SIRT6 is involved in the regulation of HBEC senescence in COPD pathogenesis.

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25860660
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Respiratory organ internal medicine
• Research Institution: Jikei University School of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: JUN Kojima 東京慈恵会医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (00408395)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 慢性閉塞性肺疾患 / 細胞老化 / SIRT6

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Cigarette smoke (CS)-induced cellular senescence has been implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and SIRT6 antagonizes this senescence. Autophagy controls cellular senescence. We sought to investigate the regulatory role for SIRT6 in autophagy activation during CS-induced cellular senescence. We demonstrated that SIRT6 expression levels were decreased in lung homogenates from COPD patients. CS extract suppressed SIRT6 expression and SIRT6 was involved in suppression of CSE-induced HBEC senescence via autophagy induction, which can be attributed to attenuation of IGF-Akt-mTOR siginaling in HBEC. Autophagy induction achieved via SIRT6 modulation is a potential effective medical intervention for the prevention of accelerated cellular senescence in COPD pathogenesis.

Free Research Field

医師薬学