Abstract

The visualization of autophagosomes in dying cells has led to the belief that autophagy is a nonapoptotic form of programmed cell death. This concept has now been evaluated using cells and organisms deficient in autophagy genes. Most evidence indicates that, at least in cells with intact apoptotic machinery, autophagy is primarily a pro-survival rather than a pro-death mechanism. This review summarizes the evidence linking autophagy to cell survival and cell death, the complex interplay between autophagy and apoptosis pathways, and the role of autophagy-dependent survival and death pathways in clinical diseases.

Keywords

AutophagyProgrammed cell deathCell biologyApoptosisBiologyMechanism (biology)CellGenetics

MeSH Terms

AnimalsApoptosisAutophagyCell SurvivalHumansSignal Transduction

Affiliated Institutions

Related Publications

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Publication Info

Year
2005
Type
review
Volume
115
Issue
10
Pages
2679-2688
Citations
1654
Access
Closed

Social Impact

Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

Citation Metrics

1654
OpenAlex
60
Influential
1359
CrossRef

Cite This

Beth Levine, Junying Yuan (2005). Autophagy in cell death: an innocent convict?. Journal of Clinical Investigation , 115 (10) , 2679-2688. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci26390

Identifiers

DOI
10.1172/jci26390
PMID
16200202
PMCID
PMC1236698

Data Quality

Data completeness: 86%