Autophagy and Immune-Related Diseases

Autophagy is an intracellular degradation and recycling machinery by which cellular materials are delivered to the lysosome for disposal. Beyond lysosomal degradation, autophagy genes play additional roles in secretion and membrane-trafficking pathways. Ranging from cell-intrinsic and cell-type-specific regulation of innate inflammatory signaling pathways to intercellular cross talk through secretion of soluble factors (e.g., shaping the MHC immunopeptidome for T cell response, etc.), autophagy exerts multiple functions in driving inflammation and modulating the pathological progression of immune-related disorders such as neurodegenerative diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases, autoimmunity, and metabolic diseases. Notably, owing to the complexity of autophagy process involving multiple proteins and stepwise assembly of protein complexes, noncanonical forms of autophagy or autophagic proteins, which function beyond autophagy, are equally important in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and pathogenesis. This chapter summarizes the most up-to-date findings of autophagy proteins in the regulation of immune-related diseases. Understanding of the autophagy machinery offers therapeutic strategies for treating inflammatory diseases.