Advances in the study of autophagy and pulmonary related diseases

Cell autophagy is the body′s defense protection mechanism, plays a crucial role in various life activities, controlling many important physiological functions.Researchs show that in some pathological physiology, extreme conditions (such as aging, lack of nutrients, infection, hypoxia, ischemia-reperfusion and other stress situations), autophagy allows the cell to gobble up their own damaged components, such as damaged organelles or protein and degradation in the lysosome, making all kinds of small molecules to recycle cell components.Its main physiological function is to provide energy, maintain cell homeostasis and promote of apoptosis of abnormal cells, provide fuel, energy and raw materials for cell repair, regeneration, and continuation to realize its continuous recycling.Autophagy is involved in the occurrence and development of lung disease process, and plays a different role in the pulmonary infection, acute lung injury, pulmonary fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and related diseases.This paper discussed the relationship between autophagy and lung diseases to provide data and background for further studies on autophagy and lung diseases. Key words: Autophagy; Apoptosis; Pulmonary infection; Pulmonary interstitial fibrosis; Tuberculosis, pulmonary