Expression of p62, Atg5–Atg12 and Beclin-1 in controls and CHIP-mutant fibroblasts.

<p>Trehalose treatment increases the autophagic activity. Fibroblasts were exposed to 50 mM trehalose for 24 hours and the autophagy-related proteins were analyzed by Western blot. <b>A</b>) Western blot showing the autophagic degradation of p62, a major selective substrate for autophagy. <b>B</b>) Beclin-1 and <b>C</b>) Atg5-12, essential factors for autophagosome formation were increased by trehalose. Data of the control and CHIP-mutant groups were analyzed independently, no inter-group statistical analysis was performed. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM. Values are the mean of two experiments of independent dishes of one patient (pseudo-replicates, n = 4–6) and for control group 3 different controls with the mean of different dishes of cells (n = 3). Statistical analysis was performed by Student's t-test. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 <i>vs</i> solvents; δδp<0.01, δδδp<0.001 trehalose + epoxomicin <i>vs</i> epoxomicin treated cultures.