Oxidative Stress Impairs Autophagy via Inhibition of Lysosomal Transport of VAMP8

Autophagy is a highly conserved intracellular degrading system and its dysfunction is considered related to the cause of neurodegenerative disorders. A previous study showed that the inhibition of endocytosis transport attenuates soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) protein transport to lysosomes and block autophagy. The other studies demonstrated oxidative stress, one of the inducers of neurodegenerative diseases inhibits endocytosis transport. Thus, we hypothesized that oxidative stress-induced endocytosis inhibition causes alteration of SNARE protein transport to lysosomes and impairs autophagy. Here, we demonstrated that oxidative stress inhibits endocytosis and decreased the lysosomal localization of VAMP8, one of the autophagy-related SNARE proteins in a human neuroblastoma cell line. Moreover, this oxidative stress induction blocked the autophagosome-lysosome fusion step. Since we also observed decreased lysosomal localization of VAMP8 and inhibition of autophagosome-lysosome fusion in endocytosis inhibitor-treated cells, oxidative stress may inhibit VAMP8 trafficking by suppressing endocytosis and impair autophagy. Our findings suggest that oxidative stress-induced inhibition of VAMP8 trafficking to lysosomes is associated with the development of neurodegenerative diseases due to the blocked autophagosome-lysosome fusion, and may provide a new therapeutic target for restoring the autophagic activity.