Abstract
Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway that is essential for survival, differentiation, development, and homeostasis. Autophagy principally serves an adaptive role to protect organisms against diverse pathologies, including infections, cancer, neurodegeneration, aging, and heart disease. However, in certain experimental disease settings, the self-cannibalistic or, paradoxically, even the prosurvival functions of autophagy may be deleterious. This Review summarizes recent advances in understanding the physiological functions of autophagy and its possible roles in the causation and prevention of human diseases.
Keywords
AutophagyNeurodegenerationBiologyDiseaseCell biologyMechanism (biology)NeuroscienceApoptosisGeneticsMedicine
MeSH Terms
AgingAnimalsAutophagyCell DeathCell SurvivalDiseaseGenomic InstabilityHomeostasisHumansLysosomesOxidative Stress
Affiliated Institutions
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Publication Info
- Year
- 2008
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 132
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 27-42
- Citations
- 6896
- Access
- Closed
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Cite This
Beth Levine,
Guido Kroemer
(2008).
Autophagy in the Pathogenesis of Disease.
Cell
, 132
(1)
, 27-42.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2007.12.018
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.cell.2007.12.018
- PMID
- 18191218
- PMCID
- PMC2696814