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Cells
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Autophagy in COVID-19 and/or Autoimmune Diseases
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Autophagy in COVID-19 and/or Autoimmune Diseases

A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Autophagy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 12450

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Tania Colasanti

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche Internistiche, Anestesiologiche e Cardiovalscolari, University Sapienza, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: autoimmune diseases; drug therapy; autoantibodies; post-translational modifications; autophagy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Autophagy is a well-known cell survival mechanism, which can be a double-edged sword, since it plays a relevant role both at a physiological and pathological level. In particular, several disease conditions seem to be able to alter the normal function of autophagy.

Autophagy is potentially involved in the pathogenesis of many autoimmune diseases, such as (but not only) Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Sjögren Syndrome (SjS), in which this mechanism can play different leading roles, resulting in multiple manifestations, depending on cell type, disease characteristics and also drug therapy. Recently, autophagy has been considered also an emerging target for COVID-19, widening the spectrum of the autophagy-related diseases.

The purpose of this Special Issue is a further in-depth analysis of autophagy both in autoimmune diseases and/or in COVID-19, since these disorders can share common features and manifestations, but they can also save new distinct insights, beside the already known aspects. Lately, COVID-19 has been implicated in the development of some autoimmune diseases, and this may shed a light on the association between autoimmunity and infections and, from this point of view, autophagy could be one of these links.

In order to this, the study of autophagy in autoimmune diseases and/or COVID-19 can disclose new aspects of the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms. In particular, the study of the regulation of the autophagy pathway, the investigation into autophagy as a new therapeutic strategy for disease improvement could be treated in this Special Issue. These analyses could provide valuable key factors for the comprehension of the autophagy machinery, a complex and heterogeneous scenario, not yet fully and specifically understood. For this reason, the topic of this Issue is as wide as possible, especially formulated to achieve the studies (original research and review articles) regarding all the disease context in which autophagy could be implicated.

Dr. Tania Colasanti
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Autophagy
  • autoimmune diseases
  • COVID-19
  • drug therapy

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 5505 KiB  
Article
Competitive Endogenous RNA Network Activates Host Immune Response in SARS-CoV-2-, panH1N1 (A/California/07/2009)-, and H7N9 (A/Shanghai/1/2013)-Infected Cells
by Minghui Yang, Jin Li, Shoulong Deng, Hao Fan, Yun Peng, Guoguo Ye, Jun Wang, Jinli Wei, Xiao Jiang, Zhixiang Xu, Ling Qing, Fuxiang Wang, Yang Yang and Yingxia Liu
Cells 2022, 11(3), 487; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11030487 - 30 Jan 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3076
Abstract
The global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is still ongoing, as is research on the molecular mechanisms underlying cellular infection by coronaviruses, with the hope of developing therapeutic agents against this pandemic. Other important respiratory viruses such as 2009 [...] Read more.
The global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is still ongoing, as is research on the molecular mechanisms underlying cellular infection by coronaviruses, with the hope of developing therapeutic agents against this pandemic. Other important respiratory viruses such as 2009 pandemic H1N1 and H7N9 avian influenza virus (AIV), influenza A viruses, are also responsible for a possible outbreak due to their respiratory susceptibility. However, the interaction of these viruses with host cells and the regulation of post-transcriptional genes remains unclear. In this study, we detected and analyzed the comparative transcriptome profiling of SARS-CoV-2, panH1N1 (A/California/07/2009), and H7N9 (A/Shanghai/1/2013) infected cells. The results showed that the commonly upregulated genes among the three groups were mainly involved in autophagy, pertussis, and tuberculosis, which indicated that autophagy plays an important role in viral pathogenicity. There are three groups of commonly downregulated genes involved in metabolic pathways. Notably, unlike panH1N1 and H7N9, SARS-CoV-2 infection can inhibit the m-TOR pathway and activate the p53 signaling pathway, which may be responsible for unique autophagy induction and cell apoptosis. Particularly, upregulated expression of IRF1 was found in SARS-CoV-2, panH1N1, and H7N9 infection. Further analysis showed SARS-CoV-2, panH1N1, and H7N9 infection-induced upregulation of lncRNA-34087.27 could serve as a competitive endogenous RNA to stabilize IRF1 mRNA by competitively binding with miR-302b-3p. This study provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms of influenza A virus and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autophagy in COVID-19 and/or Autoimmune Diseases)
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17 pages, 1885 KiB  
Article
Belimumab Decreases Autophagy and Citrullination in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
by Tania Colasanti, Francesca Romana Spinelli, Cristiana Barbati, Fulvia Ceccarelli, Susanna Scarpa, Marta Vomero, Cristiano Alessandri, Guido Valesini and Fabrizio Conti
Cells 2022, 11(2), 262; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11020262 - 13 Jan 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2619
Abstract
Belimumab (BLM) is a B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) inhibitor approved for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Autophagy is a cell survival mechanism involved in the pathogenesis of SLE. Citrullination is a post-translational modification catalyzed by peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD) enzymes. Autophagy and [...] Read more.
Belimumab (BLM) is a B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) inhibitor approved for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Autophagy is a cell survival mechanism involved in the pathogenesis of SLE. Citrullination is a post-translational modification catalyzed by peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD) enzymes. Autophagy and citrullination may generate neoepitopes, evoking an autoimmune response. No previous studies have investigated the connection of these processes, and how BLM could affect them, in SLE. Ex vivo autophagy and protein citrullination were analyzed by western blot in lysates from 26 SLE patients’ PBMCs at baseline and after 2, 4, and 12 weeks of BLM administration, and from 16 healthy donors’ PBMCs. Autophagic PBMCs were identified by the immunofluorescent detection of the autophagy-associated proteins LC3B (LC3 puncta) and LAMP-1. Autophagosome accumulation was evaluated in CD14− (PBLs) and CD14+ (monocytes) SLE cells. The presence of the BLyS receptors BAFF-R, BCMA, and TACI on SLE CD4+, CD8+ T cells and monocytes, as well as serum IL-18 levels, was also assessed. Following BLM administration, we observed a decrease in autophagy and citrullination, with a lowering of LC3-II, citrullinated vimentin, and PAD4 expression levels in PBMCs from SLE patients. LC3-II levels showed a correlation with the SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K) after 12 weeks of therapy. The LC3B/LAMP-1 analysis confirmed the reduction in autophagy. A lesser autophagosome accumulation occurred in PBLs and monocytes which, in turn, seemed to be the main cellular populations contributing to autophagy. A reduction in patients’ serum IL-18 concentrations occurred. CD4+ and CD8+ cells weakly expressed BAFF receptors; monocytes expressed only BAFF-R. BLM could impact on autophagy and citrullination, offering an opportunity for a deeper understanding of these mechanisms in SLE, and a possible tool for the clinical management of SLE. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autophagy in COVID-19 and/or Autoimmune Diseases)
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Review

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25 pages, 1890 KiB  
Review
Targeted Sequencing Approach and Its Clinical Applications for the Molecular Diagnosis of Human Diseases
by Xiao Meng Pei, Martin Ho Yin Yeung, Alex Ngai Nick Wong, Hin Fung Tsang, Allen Chi Shing Yu, Aldrin Kay Yuen Yim and Sze Chuen Cesar Wong
Cells 2023, 12(3), 493; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12030493 - 02 Feb 2023
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5836
Abstract
The outbreak of COVID-19 has positively impacted the NGS market recently. Targeted sequencing (TS) has become an important routine technique in both clinical and research settings, with advantages including high confidence and accuracy, a reasonable turnaround time, relatively low cost, and fewer data [...] Read more.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has positively impacted the NGS market recently. Targeted sequencing (TS) has become an important routine technique in both clinical and research settings, with advantages including high confidence and accuracy, a reasonable turnaround time, relatively low cost, and fewer data burdens with the level of bioinformatics or computational demand. Since there are no clear consensus guidelines on the wide range of next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms and techniques, there is a vital need for researchers and clinicians to develop efficient approaches, especially for the molecular diagnosis of diseases in the emergency of the disease and the global pandemic outbreak of COVID-19. In this review, we aim to summarize different methods of TS, demonstrate parameters for TS assay designs, illustrate different TS panels, discuss their limitations, and present the challenges of TS concerning their clinical application for the molecular diagnosis of human diseases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autophagy in COVID-19 and/or Autoimmune Diseases)
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