[Autophagy in lung infections with three common atypical pathogens]

Autophagy is a lysosomal mediated catabolic process that helps maintain cell balance and survival under extracellular or intracellular stress by degrading different cytoplasmic components. Autophagy is also a significant way for the body to defend pathogen invasion, which is swallowed by the phagosomes of host cells. When the phagosomes mature, they form autophagosomes, which are fused with lysosomes to form autophagolysosomes. Autophagolysosomes degrade due to the action of various hydrolases and remove pathogens at the same time. By interfering with the autophagy level of host cells, pulmonary atypical pathogens can escape from the host cells and be cleared by autophagy, and reproduce in host cells, finally reaching the goal of infecting the host. This article presented a brief review of recent studies on the relationship between infection and autophagy of three common atypical pathogens in the lung.