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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Viktor KorolchukORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Copyright © 2025 Kocak, Dimas, Silva, Silva-Amaral, Sun, Cruddas, Barrett, Martins-de-Souza, Cunha-Neto, Brocardo, Kataura, Korolchuk and Sarkar.Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved catabolic process that plays a central role in maintaining cellular homeostasis by degrading and recycling damaged or surplus proteins, organelles, and other cellular macromolecules and components. A growing body of evidence highlights a bidirectional relationship between autophagy and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), a vital metabolic cofactor involved in numerous cellular processes, including energy metabolism, genomic maintenance, stress resistance, and cell survival. Autophagy supports NAD+ homeostasis by recycling metabolic precursors, while NAD+-dependent enzymes such as sirtuins and PARPs regulate autophagy initiation and lysosomal function. Disruption of this autophagy–NAD+ axis has emerged as a common feature in several neurodegenerative diseases, where impaired cellular clearance and metabolic dysfunction contribute to neuronal vulnerability. In this review, we summarize the advances of the molecular links between autophagy and NAD+ metabolism, with a particular focus on their roles in mitochondrial quality control, bioenergetic regulation, and cellular resilience. We also discuss the therapeutic potential of targeting the autophagy–NAD+ axis to promote neuroprotection in neurodegenerative disease.
Author(s): Kocak G, Dimas MM, Silva LFSE, Silva-Amaral D, Sun C, Cruddas S, Barrett T, Martins-de-Souza D, Cunha-Neto E, Brocardo PS, Kataura T, Korolchuk VI, Sarkar S
Publication type: Review
Publication status: Published
Journal: Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences
Year: 2025
Volume: 12
Online publication date: 26/11/2025
Acceptance date: 04/11/2025
ISSN (electronic): 2296-889X
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
URL: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2025.1695486
DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2025.1695486
