Page 24 - F. Cell biology

[F. Cell biology-16]

Dual regulation of apoptosis and autophagy by the target in

chloroquine-treated ARPE-19 cells

Anh Thu Nguyen Hoang¹, Long Ngo Hoang¹, Sook-Jeong Lee¹

¹BIoactive Material Science, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju 54896, South Korea

Chloroquine (CQ), a compound of 4-aminoquinoline, has been commonly used as an antimalarial and anti-
inflammatory drug. Currently it is widely prescribed for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus
erythematosus, and prophylaxis against malaria. Retinal toxicity with the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE)

degeneration as a result of long-term routine use of CQ has been well defined, as CQ were examined to cause

vacuoles formation and cell death in human retinal pigment epithelium-derived cells. The target we found, which
is one of the serine/threonine protein kinase family, plays an important role in eukaryotic signaling pathways, and
their substrates are essential regulatory proteins involved in cell differentiation, proliferation, chromosome

segregation, and cell biorhythms. This target has been investigate as promising targets for discovery of anti-
trypanosomal drugs. In this research, when ARPE cells treatment with CQ, a potent and rather selective inhibitor of

the target induced cell protection from the CQ-induced cytotoxicity, by specifically inhibiting the autophagic vacuole
accumulation via autophagy activation. At the same time, the target rescued the cells from the apoptotic toxicity.

In summary, the target can protect the ARPE cells from CQ-induced cytotoxicit