The Role of Autophagy in Infections
The autophagy refers to normal physiological processes, aimed at regulating the size of cell populations by maintaining a balance between cell survival and death. A-utophagy allows cells to recycle damaged molecules and organelles, to survive and to renew in conditions of stress or starvation. Autophagy attracts special attention not only in connection with homeostatic functions but also the important role that this process plays in antimicrobial immunity. In bacterial and viral infections, the autophagy is often induced as a way of the host organism protection against invaders or a mechanism of the pathogen’s survival strategy. In recent years, the results of experimental studies have been published, indicating the critical role of autophagy in the regulation of the immune response. Autophagy as a factor of antimicrobial immunity can help in clearance the body from pathogens and, at the same time, provides a cross-presentation of microbial antigens to induce an antimicrobial immune response. Along with this, it is established that many pathogens in the process of evolution have acquired virulence factors that can interfere with the autophagy pathway, perverting its initial protective role and reducing the antimicrobial resistance.