Variation of hypoxia-associated autophagy and the beneficial effect on cardiovascular diseases

Autophagy, as a survival mechanism associated with hypoxia under the conditions of ischemia and metabolic stress, is one of the important ways to maintain cellular homeostasis. For some cardiovascular diseases, the ischemia (hypoxia) microenvironment tends to trigger autophagy through several pathways. A mild autophagy is able to degrade self-damaged proteins to offer cells a survival opportunity, while an excessive autophagy may damage cells and even cause Type II Programmed Cell Death. Recent years, there are two main novel methods for treating cardiovascular diseases, namely pharmacotherapy and stem cell transplant. Autophagy plays a vital role in these treatments. Under certain circumstances, it is a survival mechanism, while under other circumstances, it promotes death depending on the types and levels of cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, how to make use of autophagy to improve some cardiovascular diseases efficiently is a dilemma in this field.