UCSF

The main protein quality control systems, the ubiquitin-proteasome system and macroautophagy, have been implicated in a diverse range of neurodegenerative disease as well as alcoholic liver disease. Chronic ethanol use increases the load of misfolded and polyubiquitinated proteins in liver tissue and the nervous system, thereby exacerbating the effect of aging and disease. Study of the interplay of age, toxin and disease is a promising avenue for understanding each alone as well as the interplay of the three, an increasingly important topic in our aging society. This paper will discuss the evidence for ethanol's interference with protein quality control and consider the implications for neurodegenerative disease.