Autophagy is an intracellular degradation system that contributes to cellular homeostasis through degradation of various targets such as proteins, organelles and microbes. Since autophagy is related to various diseases such as infection, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, it is attracting attention as a new therapeutic target. Autophagy is mediated by dozens of autophagy-related (Atg) proteins, among which Atg4 is the sole protease that regulates autophagy through the processing and deconjugating of Atg8. As the Atg4 activity is essential and highly specific to autophagy, Atg4 is a prospective target for developing autophagy-specific inhibitors. In this review article, we summarize our current knowledge of the structure, function and regulation of Atg4 including efforts to develop Atg4-specific inhibitors.The Journal of Antibiotics advance online publication, 13 September 2017; doi:10.1038/ja.2017.104.

中文翻译：

---

自噬调节蛋白酶Atg4：结构，功能，调节和抑制。

自噬是一种细胞内降解系统，可通过降解各种靶标（例如蛋白质，细胞器和微生物）来促进细胞稳态。自噬与各种疾病如感染，神经退行性疾病和癌症有关，因此作为一种新的治疗靶点引起了人们的关注。自噬是由数十种自噬相关（Atg）蛋白介导的，其中Atg4是唯一的蛋白酶，可通过Atg8的加工和结合来调节自噬。由于Atg4活性是必不可少的，并且对自噬具有高度特异性，因此Atg4是开发自噬特异性抑制剂的潜在目标。在这篇综述文章中，我们总结了我们目前对Atg4的结构，功能和调控的认识，包括努力开发Atg4特异性抑制剂。《抗生素杂志》提前在线发表于2017年9月13日; doi：10.1038 / ja.2017.104。