Open Access

REVIEW

Autophagy and circadian rhythms: interactions and clinical implications

TIANKAI DI^1,2,#, ZHIFEI ZHOU^3,#, FEN LIU^4,#, YUJIANG CHEN^5,*, LULU WANG^1,*

1 State Key Laboratory of Oral & Maxillofacial Reconstruction and Regeneration, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Shaanxi Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Stomatology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, 710032, China
2 Department of Stomatology, The 969th Hospital, Joint Logistics Support Force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Hohhot, 010000, China
3 Department of Stomatology, General Hospital of Tibetan Military Command, Lhasa, 850000, China
4 Key Laboratory of Shaanxi Province for Craniofacial Precision Medicine Research, Clinical Research Center of Shaanxi Province for Dental and Maxillofacial Diseases, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, College of Stomatology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710000, China
5 Department of Neurobiology and Institute of Neurosciences, School of Basic Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, 710032, China

* Corresponding Authors: YUJIANG CHEN. Email: ; LULU WANG. Email:

BIOCELL 2024, 48(1), 33-45. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2023.031638

Received 07 August 2023; Accepted 07 November 2023; Issue published 30 January 2024

Abstract

Autophagy is a widespread biological process that controls cellular growth, survival, development, and death. Circadian rhythm is a recurring reaction of living organisms and behaviors to variations in surrounding brightness and obscurity. Most of the fundamental physiological processes in mammals, such as the sleep-wake pattern and the rhythm of nutrition and energy metabolism, are governed by circadian rhythms. Research has indicated that autophagy exhibits a specific circadian pattern in both normal and abnormal conditions. Autophagy can modulate circadian rhythms by breaking down proteins that regulate the circadian clock. The potential regulatory connection between the two has been a popular subject of clinical and fundamental research. Understanding the interaction between circadian rhythm and autophagy could potentially lead to the development of novel approaches for disease treatment in the future. The present analysis presented a summary of the molecular processes implicated in the interplay between autophagy and circadian rhythm, as well as the pathological importance of the disrupted regulatory association between these two phenomena.

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Keywords

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