Anna Katharina Simon - Publications#

Selection of recent publications (ORCID 0000-0002-4077-7995)

1) Borsa, M. …l, A.K. Simon. Autophagy preserves hematopoietic stem cells by restraining MTORC1-mediated cellular anabolism. Autophagy (2023) This describes the mechanism by which stem cells without autophagy are lost.

This knowledge can be used to treat diseases where decreased autophagy is a key component of the pathogenesis.

2) Richter, F. C. …. A.K. Simon, Adipocyte autophagy limits gut inflammation by controlling oxylipin and IL‐10. EMBO J (2023).

First evidence for a role of cell-extrinsic autophagy in inflammation in vivo.

3) Yao Y, Du Jiang P, Chao BN, Cagdas D, Kubo S, Balasubramaniyam A, et al. GIMAP6 regulates autophagy, immune competence, and inflammation in mice and humans. J Exp Med. 2022;219(6).

An example of an immune deficiency based on a mutated molecule in the autophagy signalling pathway.

4) Zhou, D., M. Borsa, D. Puleston,…, Behrends*, G. Alsaleh*, and A.K. Simon*. 2021. Mapping of the autophagosomal degradome identifies IL-7Rα as key 1 cargo in proliferating CD4+ T-cells. Nat Comms 13, 5174, (2022)

A novel proximity labelling mouse model that can identify autophagosomal cargo in vivo.

5) Zhang, H. …, Simon, AK. Polyamines Control eIF5A Hypusination, TFEB Translation, and Autophagy to Reverse B Cell Senescence. Mol Cell 76, 110-125 e119 (2019).

This study identified a novel translational pathway that controls autophagy in B cells. This pathway has since become a key pathway downstream of polyamines.

6) Clarke, A. J. & Simon, A. K. Autophagy in the renewal, differentiation and homeostasis of immune cells. Nat Rev Immunol 19, 170-183 (2019). We pioneered this field and were asked to provide this review.

7) Clarke, A. J., Riffelmacher, T, Braas, D., Cornall, R.J., Simon, A.K.

B1a B cells require autophagy for metabolic homeostasis and self-renewal. J Exp Med 215 399-413 (2018).

B1a cells are long-lived & self-renewing, another example of a cell type with stem cell characteristics addicted to autophagy.

8) Riffelmacher, T., Clarke, A., Richter, et al, Jacobsen, S. E. W. & Simon, A. K. Autophagy-Dependent Generation of Free Fatty Acids Is Critical for Normal Neutrophil Differentiation. Immunity 47, 466-480 e465, (2017).

This study identifies the mechanism behind the requirement for autophagy in cellular differentiation This paper washighlighted in a preview in Immunity by Klaus Ley et al (same issue) and in Nature Reviews Immunology doi:10.1038/nri.2017.122

9) Puleston, D. J., Zhang, H., Powell, et al, Klenerman, P. & Simon, A. K. Autophagy is a critical regulator of memory CD8(+) T cell formation. Elife 3 (2014).

This paper gave rise to a patent and paved the way for a clinical trial using the polyamine spermidine to improve vaccine responses in elderly humans.

10) Mortensen, M., Soilleux, E. J., Djordjevic, G., … Jacobsen, S. E., Kranc, K. R. & Simon, A. K. The autophagy protein Atg7 is essential for hematopoietic stem cell maintenance. J Exp Med 208, 455-467 (2011).

This was the first report on the key role of autophagy in stem cells, cited 647 times.