Abstract

Autophagy is a dynamic process of subcellular degradation, which has recently sparked great interest as it is now recognized to be involved in various developmental processes and various diseases including cancer and neurodegeneration. Autophagy can function as a cytoprotective mechanism; however, it also has the capacity to cause cell death. A better understanding of autophagy is needed to allow its manipulation for therapeutic purposes, and new insights into the molecular mechanisms of autophagy are now leading to the discovery of exciting new potential drug targets.

Author affiliations

1. Department of Medical Genetics, Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, Cambridge CB2 2XY, UK.
   Email: dcr1000@cam.ac.uk
2. Life Sciences Institute and Department of Pathology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
   Email: gestwick@umich.edu
3. Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
   Email: leon.murphy@novartis.com
4. Life Sciences Institute and Departments of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
   Email: klionsky@umich.edu

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