Autophagy

Patent Granted Autophagy (or autophagocytosis) (from the Greek auto-, "self" and phagein, "to eat"), is the basic catabolic mechanism that involves cell degradation of unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components through the actions of lysosomes.[1] The breakdown of cellular components promotes cellular survival during starvation by maintaining cellular energy levels.[1] Autophagy allows the degradation and recycling of cellular components.[1] During this process, targeted cytoplasmic constituents are isolated from the rest of the cell within a double-membraned vesicle known as an autophagosome. The autophagosome then fuses with a lysosome and its cargo is degraded and recycled.[2] There are three different forms of autophagy that are commonly described; macroautophagy, microautophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy.[3] In the context of disease, autophagy has been seen as an adaptive response to stress which promotes survival, whereas in other cases it appears to promote cell death and morbidity.[2] The name "autophagy" was coined by Belgian biochemist Christian de Duve in 1963.[4]