The Various Faces of Autophagy in Human Disease

Dear Colleagues,

Autophagy is a conserved recycling process for the degradation of multiple cellular components. Initially, it was considered as a physiological mechanism for cargo delivery to lysosomes for the turnover of proteins and organelles as well as the removal of invading bacteria and viruses. An impressive number of studies over the past decades have revealed that autophagic processes share intrinsic connections with several human diseases, including neurodegeneration, infections, metabolic disorders, and cancer. Improving the knowledge about the signaling pathways that regulate autophagy will help to better define the pathogenesis of the diseases and permit researchers and clinicians to design new therapies to counteract their progression.

We encourage basic and translational scientists working in a related field to submit research articles as well as review articles that investigate aspects relevant to autophagy in health and pathological conditions. Potential topics include but are not limited to metabolism, crosstalk between autophagy and other signaling pathways, tissue homeostasis, selective autophagy, proliferation, post-translational and -transcriptional regulation, and techniques and cellular/organism models to study autophagy.

We also welcome manuscripts that propose new therapeutic approaches targeting the autophagic mechanism or already approved drugs adapted to this purpose.

We hope that the contributions in this Special Issue provide a useful overview that will i) delineate the importance of autophagic process in pathogenesis of human disease; ii) shed new light on the molecular dynamics at interplay between a pathologic condition and autophagy; and iii) reveal new therapeutic opportunities based on modulation of the autophagic process.

Prof. Alessandro Rimessi
Dr. Simone Patergnani
Guest Editors

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