Autophagy in cell death: An innocent convict?

Beth Levine, Junying Yuan

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

1515 Scopus citations

Abstract

The visualization of autophagosomes in dying cells has led to the belief that autophagy is a nonapoptotic form of programmed cell death. This concept has now been evaluated using cells and organisms deficient in autophagy genes. Most evidence indicates that, at least in cells with intact apoptotic machinery, autophagy is primarily a pro-survival rather than a pro-death mechanism. This review summarizes the evidence linking autophagy to cell survival and cell death, the complex interplay between autophagy and apoptosis pathways, and the role of autophagy-dependent survival and death pathways in clinical diseases.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2679-2688
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Clinical Investigation
Volume115
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2005

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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