PP2A blockade inhibits autophagy and causes intraneuronal accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins

Using cultured cortical neurons, we show that the blockade of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), either pharmacologically by okadaic acid or by short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated silencing of PP2A catalytic subunit, inhibited basal autophagy and autophagy induced in several experimental settings (including serum deprivation, endoplasmic reticulum stress, rapamycin, and proteasome inhibition) at early stages before autophagosome maturation. Conversely, PP2A upregulation by PP2A catalytic subunit overexpression stimulates neuronal autophagy. In addition, PP2A blockade resulted in the activation of the negative regulator of autophagy mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 and 5' adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and led to intraneuronal accumulation of p62- and ubiquitin-positive protein inclusions, likely due to autophagy downregulation. These data are consistent with previous findings showing that specific invalidation of the autophagy process in the nervous system of mouse resulted in the accumulation of p62- and ubiquitin-positive protein inclusion bodies. Furthermore, we showed that PP2A inhibition alters the distribution of the microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain(LC) 3-I (MAP LC3-I), a key component of the autophagy molecular machinery. Whether MAP LC3-I distribution in the cell accounts for autophagy regulation remains to be determined. These data are important to human neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease, because they provide links for the first time between the pathological features of Alzheimer's disease:PP2A downregulation, autophagy disruption, and protein aggregation.