A picky eater: exploring the mechanisms of selective autophagy in human pathologies

Aniek van der Vaart, Muriel Mari, Fulvio Reggiori

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

69 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Autophagy is a catabolic process conserved among all eukaryotes essential for the cellular and organismal homeostasis. One of the principal roles of this pathway is to maintain an accurate balance between synthesis, degradation and subsequent recycling of cellular components. Under certain conditions, however, cells are also able to modulate autophagy and specifically remove a number of structures that are potentially harmful. Aberrant protein aggregates, damaged organelles or pathogens can be selectively incorporated into large double-membrane vesicles called autophagosomes to be delivered into lysosomes for destruction. This ability to eliminate specific structures is exploited by the cells in several physiological processes as well as in multiple pathological situations, making autophagy a precious multitask cellular degradative pathway. In this review, we will first examine what is known about the basic mechanisms of autophagy and then discuss in a second part the nature of the cargoes that are selectively sequestered into autophagosomes, what provides the specificity and the possible implications of selective types of autophagy in human pathologies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)281-9
Number of pages9
JournalTraffic
Volume9
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar-2008
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Aging
  • Autophagy
  • Endoplasmic Reticulum
  • Genes, Fungal
  • Humans
  • Infection
  • Models, Biological
  • Multiprotein Complexes
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Phagosomes
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins

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