Transcriptional Regulation of Hepatic Autophagy by Nuclear Receptors

Autophagy is an adaptive self-eating process involved in degradation of various cellular components such as carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and organelles. Its activity plays an essential role in tissue homeostasis and systemic metabolism in response to diverse challenges, including nutrient depletion, pathogen invasion, and accumulations of toxic materials. Therefore, autophagy dysfunctions are intimately associated with many human diseases such as cancer, neurodegeneration, obesity, diabetes, infection, and aging. Although its acute post-translational regulation is well described, recent studies have also shown that autophagy can be controlled at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. Nuclear receptors (NRs) are in general ligand-dependent transcription factors consisting of 48 members in humans. These receptors extensively control transcription of a variety of genes involved in development, metabolism, and inflammation. In this review, we discuss the roles and mechanisms of NRs in an aspect of transcriptional regulation of hepatic autophagy, and how the NR-driven autophagy pathway can be harnessed to treat various liver diseases.