Environment Mechanical Interfaces and Autophagy

Abstract

With this book chapter, we aimed to summarize the state of the art of the fascinating interplay between autophagy and the mechanotransduction machinery associated with adhesions that we named ¨Mechanoautophagy¨. Mechanical and chemical signals from the extracellular matrix in normal and in pathological conditions are sensed by the integrin-mediated adhesions, also known as focal adhesions. Different mechanical forces and physical cues originating from the environment are exposed to by cells, and they react to them. Autophagy is one of the key players in this interplay, which has been observed to differentially control a variety of cellular activities for the preservation of homeostasis. In addition, autophagy has been suggested to regulate mechanical functions of the cells including their interaction with the environment. In this minireview, we summarize the state of the art of the fascinating interplay between autophagy and the mechanotransduction machinery associated with cell adhesions, that we name ¨Mechanoautophagy¨ Autophagy is clearly involved in a large number of mechanically related cellular functions, which we only have started to appreciate. Additionally, while we have only discussed the role of mechanoautophagy in cancer transformation, there is a whole plethora of physio/ pathological contexts where the study of mechanoautophagy is needed, such as development and/or obesity where the study of autophagy and mechanical forces per se, but not their synergy, has been considered.