Methods for Studying TNFα-Induced Autophagy.

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved cellular mechanism in eukaryotes that plays an important role in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. The autophagy process maintains protein homeostasis by recycling damaged organelles and degrading many long-lived proteins in conjunction with the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Cytokines are low-molecular-weight secreted proteins that regulate a broad range of biological activities. For instance, pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) induce inflammation, autophagy, and apoptotic cell death. In this chapter, we discuss experimental techniques such as immunoblotting and fluorescence microscopy that can be utilized to measure autophagy in response to TNFα treatment.