Role of autophagy in COPD skeletal muscle dysfunction

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a debilitating disease caused by parenchymal damage and irreversible airflow limitation. In addition to lung dysfunction, patients with COPD develop weight loss, malnutrition, poor exercise performance, and skeletal muscle atrophy. The latter has been attributed to an imbalance between muscle protein synthesis and protein degradation. Several reports have confirmed that enhanced protein degradation and atrophy of limb muscles of COPD patient is mediated in part through activation of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway and that this activation is triggered by enhanced production of reactive oxygen species. Until recently, the importance of the autophagy-lysosome pathway in protein degradation of skeletal muscles has been largely ignored, however, recent evidence suggests that this pathway is actively involved in recycling of cytosolic proteins, organelles, and protein aggregates in normal skeletal muscles. The protective role of autophagy in the regulation of muscle mass has recently been uncovered in mice with muscle-specific suppression of autophagy. These mice develop severe muscle weakness, atrophy, and decreased muscle contractility. No information is yet available about the involvement of the autophagy in the regulation of skeletal muscle mass in COPD patients. Pilot experiments on vastus lateralis muscle samples suggest that the autophagy-lysosome system is induced in COPD patients compared with control subjects. In this review, we summarize recent progress related to molecular structure, regulation, and roles of the autophagy-lysosome pathway in normal and diseased skeletal muscles. We also speculate about regulation and functional importance of this system in skeletal muscle dysfunction in COPD patients.