Autophagy and Autoimmunity

Abstract Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation mechanism with a crucial role in cell homeostasis and in stress conditions. Because autophagy was found to be dysregulated in several disorders, such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, several studies have taken into account this process as a therapeutic target in human diseases. Autophagy seems to be involved in immunity, contributing to MHC class II-mediated presentation of intracellular antigens to T lymphocytes, and it can also play a role in inducing an autoimmune response. B and T lymphocytes depend on autophagy for their development, survival, proliferation, and function. As a result, the role of autophagy in the pathogenesis of many autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Sjogren syndrome, and inflammatory bowel disease, was investigated in many studies, suggesting that its modulation may be considered a target for clinical practice.