New Insights of Autophagy and Apoptosis in Cells
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2025 | Viewed by 560
Special Issue Editors
Interests: autophagy; apoptosis; myokines; oxidative stress; inflammation; aging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: senescence; autophagy; nitrosative/oxidative stress; signaling pathway; aging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Autophagy and apoptosis are essential cellular processes that maintain cellular homeostasis and respond to stressors, but their intricate interplay and roles in health and disease are still being explored. Autophagy is a catabolic process that involves the degradation and recycling of cellular components, helping cells adapt to nutrient deprivation, eliminate damaged organelles, and regulate inflammation. In contrast, apoptosis is a programmed form of cell death that eliminates damaged or dysfunctional cells to prevent malignancy and maintain tissue integrity. Recent research has revealed new insights into how these two processes are not entirely distinct but rather interconnected, with autophagy acting as a modulator of apoptosis in various cellular contexts. Under certain stress conditions, autophagy can suppress apoptosis by removing damaged organelles and proteins that might otherwise trigger cell death. However, in other scenarios, excessive or dysfunctional autophagy can promote apoptosis, especially in response to severe stressors such as DNA damage or viral infections. Furthermore, crosstalk between autophagy and apoptosis is now understood to be regulated by a variety of signaling pathways, including those involving Bcl-2 family proteins, the mTOR pathway, and the tumor suppressor p53. These findings have significant implications for understanding the pathogenesis of diseases such as cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and cardiovascular conditions.
In this Special Issue, we will discuss the molecular mechanisms governing autophagy and apoptosis, and their interactions, to open new therapeutic avenues, including the development of drugs that modulate these pathways for disease prevention and treatment.
Dr. Mirko Pesce
Prof. Dr. Antonia Patruno
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- autophagy
- apoptosis
- signal transduction
- cell survival
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