ADNP Plays a Key Role in Autophagy: From Autism to Schizophrenia and Alzheimer's Disease

Shlomo Sragovich, Avia Merenlender-Wagner, Illana Gozes*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

49 Scopus citations

Abstract

Activity-dependent neuroprotective protein (ADNP), discovered in our laboratory in 1999, has been characterized as a master gene vital for mammalian brain formation. ADNP de novo mutations in humans result in a syndromic form of autism-like spectrum disorder (ASD), including cognitive and motor deficits, the ADNP syndrome (Helsmoortel-Van Der Aa). One of the most important cellular processes associated with ADNP is the autophagy pathway, recently discovered by us as a key player in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. In this regard, given the link between the microtubule and autophagy systems, the ADNP microtubule end binding protein motif, namely, the neuroprotective NAP (NAPVSIPQ), was found to enhance autophagy while protecting microtubules and augmenting ADNP's association with both systems. Thus, linking autophagy and ADNP is proposed as a major target for intervention in brain diseases from autism to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and our findings introduce autophagy as a possible novel target for treating schizophrenia.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1700054
JournalBioEssays
Volume39
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2017

Keywords

  • ADNP
  • NAP
  • autism
  • autophagy
  • schizophrenia
  • sexual divergence

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