Autophagic Signatures in Health and Disease: Molecular Insights and Clinical Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Autophagy is a tightly regulated and evolutionarily conserved catabolic process essential to cellular quality control and adaptation to stress. Originally considered a general mechanism for the bulk degradation of cytoplasmic components, it is now clear that autophagy encompasses a range of highly specialized forms—including mitophagy, lipophagy, xenophagy, chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA), and ER-phagy—with each tailored to selectively target specific intracellular substrates.

These selective autophagy pathways are not only crucial in maintaining cellular and tissue homeostasis, they are also emerging as key players in a wide range of diseases, including cancer, neurodegeneration, metabolic disorders, infections, and immune dysregulation. Recent advances have uncovered compelling evidence linking the autophagic machinery to clinically relevant processes, opening up possibilities for their use as a source of novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, as well as predictive indicators for therapeutic responses.

In particular, understanding how specific autophagy-related proteins correlate with established clinical biomarkers can lead to exciting opportunities to enhance diagnostic accuracy, stratify patients, and monitor disease progression or therapeutic efficacy. This is especially relevant in the context of precision medicine, where the integration of autophagy-based indicators may help refine treatment strategies.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide a comprehensive overview of the multifaceted roles of autophagy in health and disease, with a particular focus on the following areas:

• The mechanisms and regulation of selective autophagy (e.g., mitophagy, lipophagy, xenophagy, CMA, ER-phagy);
• Autophagy as a source of diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive disease biomarkers;
• The correlation between autophagic pathways and approved clinical biomarkers;
• The interplay between autophagy and key signaling networks (e.g., inflammation, immunity, metabolism);
• The role of autophagy in tissue homeostasis, cellular stress, and pathogenesis;
• Novel therapeutic strategies targeting autophagy-related pathways;
• Innovative technologies to monitor autophagic flux and specificity in clinical and experimental settings.

We encourage the submission of original research articles, comprehensive reviews, and methodological papers that address these topics and can contribute to expanding our current understanding of autophagy in translational and clinical contexts.

We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Cells.

Dr. Simone Patergnani
Dr. Alberto Danese
Guest Editors

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