Autophagy and epigenetics

Despite tremendous advances in diagnosis and treatment, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Accumulating evidence suggests that epigenetic regulation including DNA methylation, histone modification, and microRNA alteration may play an important role in cardiovascular disease. As a postmitotic cell, cardiac myocytes must rely on comprehensive protein quality control mechanisms to maintain cellular function and homeostasis. Autophagy, an evolutionarily conserved catabolic pathway responsible for degradation of long-lived proteins and defective organelles, is one such quality control mechanism and has been proposed as a therapeutic target for cardiovascular disease. Recent studies have demonstrated that alteration of epigenetic pathways can modify autophagic activity and impact cardiac function and cardiac myocyte survival. Here, we summarize the current knowledge regarding the functions of autophagy and epigenetics in cardiovascular disease.