Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Photochem Photobiol. 2017 Jan 27;93(4):943–955. doi: 10.1111/php.12691

Figure 2. Autophagy in UVB response.

Figure 2

UVB radiation causes direct DNA damage in the form of photoproducts, and autophagy is induced by UVB to promote photoproduct repair. UVB directly induces autophagy activators AMPK, UVRAG and p53. p53, upon stabilization by UVB, activates transcription of AMPK, Sesn2, TSC2, and UVRAG to activate autophagy. ATR is also induced by UVB-induced DNA damage and can activate AMPK signaling. Sesn2 interacts with AMPK, TSC1, and TSC2 to activate autophagy in response to genotoxic stress. Activation of autophagy by these factors leads to the degradation of p62 and thus the decrease in Twist1 stability, which is required for XPC upregulation following UVB, and recruitment of DDB2 to sites of UVB-induced DNA damage. Conversely, autophagy activator PTEN is inhibited in response to UVB and this impairs NER by downregulating XPC.