Autophagy in Cellular Stress Responses

Autophagy is an essential cellular mechanism involving the lysosomal degradation of cytoplasmic organelles or cytosolic components. Autophagy can be induced by various stress stimuli including oxidative stress, hypoxia, pathogen infection, and osmotic pressure, which in turn affects a variety of cellular biological functions and plays a role of double-edged sword in determining the fate of cells depending on different stress conditions, degrees of damage, and cell model. We have summarized the molecular events involved in the process of autophagy induced by cellular stress in this chapter.