Abstract
Autophagy is a cellular process that controls and executes the turnover of dysfunctional organelles and misfolded or abnormally aggregated proteins. Phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) activates the initiation of autophagy. Autophagosomes migrate along acetylated microtubules to fuse with lysosomes to execute the degradation of the engulfed substrates that usually bind with sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1, p62). Microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) traces the autophagy process by converting from the LC3-I to the LC3-II isoform and serves as a major marker of autophagy flux. Potassium bisperoxo(1,10-phenanthroline)oxovanadate (bpV(phen)) is an insulin mimic and a PTEN inhibitor and has the potential to treat different diseases. Here we show that bpV(phen) enhances the ubiquitination of p62, reduces the stability of p62, disrupts the interaction between p62 and histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6), activates the deacetylase activity of HDAC6 on α-tubulin, and impairs stable acetylated microtubules. Microtubular destabilization leads to the blockade of autophagosome-lysosome fusion and accumulation of autophagosomes. Autophagy defects lead to oxidative stress and lysosomal rupture, which trigger different types of cell death, including apoptosis and pyroptosis. The consistent results from multiple systems, including mouse and different types of mammalian cells, are different from the predicted function of bpV(phen) as a PTEN inhibitor to activate autophagy flux. In addition, levels of p62 are reduced but not elevated when autophagosomal degradation is blocked, revealing a novel function of p62 in autophagy regulation. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the roles of bpV(phen) in autophagy, apoptosis, and pyroptosis when it is developed as a drug.