The Mechanical Autophagy as a Part of Cellular Immunity; Facts and Features in Treating the Medical Disorders

ABSTRACT

Autophagy is a cellular housekeeping process that incorporates lysosomal-degradation to maintain cell survival and energy sources. In recent decades, the role of autophagy has implicated in the initiation and development of many diseases that affect humanity. Among these diseases are autoimmune diseases and neurodegenerative diseases, which connected with the lacking autophagy. Other diseases are connected with the increasing levels of autophagy such as cancers and infectious diseases. Therefore, controlling autophagy with sufficient regulators could represent an effective strategy to overcome such diseases. Interestingly, targeting autophagy can also provide a sufficient method to combat the current epidemic caused by the ongoing coronavirus. In this review, we aim to highlight the physiological function of the autophagic process to understand the circumstances surrounding its role in the cellular immunity associated with the development of human diseases.

KEYWORDS:

• Autophagy
• apoptosis
• cellular immune disorder
• infectious diseases
• cancer therapy

Additional information

Funding

The work in Khalil’s lab was supported by The Egyptian Science and Technology Development Fund (STDF) through projects ID 6117 and 4694. This work is a part of Ph.D. thesis for the student; Amira El-Hady.