Activated STING1 rides the Rafeesome

ABSTRACT

Over the past decade, accumulated studies have reported the presence of non-canonical macroautophagy/autophagy characterized by the shared usage of the autophagy machinery and distinct components that function in multiple scenarios but do not involve lysosomal degradation. One type of non-canonical autophagy is secretory autophagy, which facilitates the secretion of various cargoes. In a recent work from Gao et al. the ER-membrane protein STING1 has been identified as a novel substrate of secretory autophagy. The secretion of activated STING1 is mediated by its packing into the rafeesome, a newly identified organelle formed upon the fusion of RAB22A-mediated non-canonical autophagosome with an early endosome. Moreover, extracellular vesicles containing activated STING1 induce antitumor immunity in recipient cells, a process potentially promoted by RAB22A.

KEYWORDS:

• Autophagosome
• ERGIC
• RAB22
• STING
• Rafeesome
• Unconventional secretion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work is funded by Vanke Special Fund for Public Health and Health Discipline Development (2022Z82WKJ009), National Natural Science Foundation of China (32225013; 92254302, 32130023; 32061143009), Beijing Natural Science Foundation (JQ20028), Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (2019YFA0508602; 2021YFA0804802),