Autophagy and its role in pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a very common kind of pulmonary vascular disease, which can cause a heavier burden on patient's quality of life, even lead to death. Yet, the mechanism of PH is incomprehensive and not so clear nowadays. In recent years, more and more studies show that autophagy plays a pivotal role in the development of PH. Some modalities target on the formation or maturation of autophagosome that has emerged from our increasing knowledge of autophagy machinery, which may prevent or eliminate the process of PH. The deciphering of molecular selectivity of autophagy has also been a source of novel modulators that act specifically on selective forms of autophagy. Tremendous recent progress has opened a new possibility for modulating autophagy in complex diseases. Thus, autophagy may become a prospective choice for treatment of PH. Herein, we reviewed the literatures and discussed the role of autophagy in the development and treatment of PH.