Editor's Summary
28 February 2008
Garbage in, all sorts out
Until recently, autophagy, or cellular self-digestion, was thought of primarily as part of the cell's garbage disposal system. Now it is know to be involved in cellular protein and organelle degradation during development as well as during adaptations to changing environmental conditions. Many intriguing questions remain to be answered about this process. For example, how can this one pathway be involved in cytoprotection as well as cell death? What is the connection between autophagy and human disease or ageing? In a review, Mizushima et al. consider recent progress in the field.
Review: Autophagy fights disease through cellular self-digestion
Noboru Mizushima, Beth Levine, Ana Maria Cuervo & Daniel J. Klionsky
doi:10.1038/nature06639