Figure 6. Crosstalk between heterophagy and autophagy in the regulation of protein aggregation and inflammation in aged RPE cells. Impaired lysosomal POS clearance increases lipofuscin accumulation that increases oxidative stress damage and protein aggregation in the aged RPE cells. Autophagy flux is decreased due to weakened lysosomal function that also increases mitochondrial damage. All these lead to exocytosis of damaged proteins and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in association with drusen formation. Abbreviations used: BM, Bruch’s membrane; UB, ubiquitin.