Experimental & Molecular Medicine  2012;44(2):99-108

doi:10.3858/emm.2012.44.2.032

Autophagy and bacterial infectious diseases.

Jae Min YUK 1 ; Tamotsu YOSHIMORI ; Eun Kyeong JO

Affiliations

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Keywords

autophagy; cytokines; immunity, Innate; infection; reactive oxygen species

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

English

Abstract

Autophagy is a housekeeping process that maintains cellular homeostasis through recycling of nutrients and degradation of damaged or aged cytoplasmic constituents. Over the past several years, accumulating evidence has suggested that autophagy can function as an intracellular innate defense pathway in response to infection with a variety of bacteria and viruses. Autophagy plays a role as a specialized immunologic effector and regulates innate immunity to exert antimicrobial defense mechanisms. Numerous bacterial pathogens have developed the ability to invade host cells or to subvert host autophagy to establish a persistent infection. In this review, we have summarized the recent advances in our understanding of the interaction between antibacterial autophagy (xenophagy) and different bacterial pathogens.