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Updated: Mar 16, 2026

Visualizing the Early Stages of Phagocytosis
Published on: February 3, 2017
Autophagy in leukocytes and other cells: mechanisms, subsystem organization, selectivity, and links to innate
1Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA vderetic@salud.unm.edu.
Abstract:
Autophagy is a fundamental biologic process that fulfills general and specialized roles in cytoplasmic homeostasis. The cell-autonomous antimicrobial functions of autophagy have been established in the macrophage. These cells and other leukocytes continue to be the cells of choice in studying autophagy in immunity and inflammation. This review uses several model examples that will be of interest to leukocyte and cell biologists alike. Furthermore, it comprehensively covers the subsystems in autophagy as they apply to all mammalian cells and incorporates the recent progress in our understanding of how these modules come together-a topic that should be of interest to all readers.
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