Endocrine Abstracts

Autophagy is a catabolic process that promotes hepatic cell survival during starvation and metabolic stress. Currently, little is known about the endocrine regulation of autophagy. Recent studies by Singh et al. (Nature 458, 1131–1135 (2009)) showed a critical link between autophagy and beta oxidation in hepatocytes. Accordingly, we examined whether hormones known to promote beta oxidation of fatty acids also stimulated autophagy in hepatic cells. Surprisingly, we found t...