Background information
A major contributor to cellular homeostasis is the ability of the cell to strike a balance between the formation and degradation/removal of its cellular components. This process of internal cellular turn-over is called autophagy (self-eating), and is facilitated by a pathway of around 16 interacting proteins in the human. LC3, a ubiquitin-like modifier protein, is the human homolog of yeast Apg8 and is involved in the formation of autophagosomal vacuoles, called autophagosomes. LC3 is expressed as 3 splice variants (LC3A, LC3B and LC3C), which exhibit different tissue distributions and are processed into cytosolic and autophagosomal membrane-bound forms, termed LC3-I and LC3-II, respectively. A disruption to the autophagic process is now associated with the progression of several cancers, neurodegenerative disorders and cardiac pathologies, where LC3 is widely employed as a marker for autophagy.
