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Updated: May 16, 2026

Exploring the Regulation of Lipid Droplet Catabolism through Lipophagy
Published on: January 31, 2025
Autophagy and toxins: a matter of life or death
1Laboratorio de Biologia Celular y Molecular- Instituto de Histologia y Embriologia, Facultad de Ciencias Medicas, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo-CONICET, Mendoza, Argentina.
Abstract:
Bacterial protein toxins are important virulence factors. A particular class of toxins, the pore-form toxins (PFTs), shares the toxigenic mechanism of forming pores in the membrane of target cells. The relationship between autophagy and bacterial PFTs has been described for several toxin-secreting pathogens and in this review we have recapitulated the more recent findings on this issue. A common outcome is that the target cell, by a yet non-completely defined mechanism, senses the toxin attack and builds up complex responses as a protective mechanism for host survival. However, in some cases, this cellular response is beneficial to the microorganism by supplying an intracellular niche or by promoting host-cell death, which facilitates pathogen spreading.
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Bacterial Toxins
