RESEARCH ARTICLE Transforming Growth Factor TGFβ Increases Levels of Microtubule-Associated Protein MAP1S and Autophagy Flux in Pancreatic

Background and Aim Autophagy is a cellular process to regulate the turnover of misfolded/aggregated proteins or dysfunctional organelles such as damaged mitochondria. Microtubule-associated protein MAP1S (originally named C19ORF5) is a widely-distributed homologue of neuronal-specific MAP1A and MAP1B with which autophagy marker light chain 3 (LC3) was originally co-puri-fied. MAP1S bridges autophagic components with microtubules and mitochondria through LC3 and positively regulates autophagy flux from autophagosomal biogenesis to degrada-tion. The MAP1S-mediated autophagy suppresses tumorigenesis as suggested in a mouse liver cancer model and in prostate cancer patients. The TGFβ signaling pathway plays a central role in pancreatic tumorigenesis, and high levels of TGFβ suggest a tumor suppres-sive function and predict a better survival for some patients with resectable pancreatic duc-tal adenocarcinoma. In this study, we try to understand the relationship between TGFβ and MAP1S-mediated autophagy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Method