Autophagy:
Researchers have uncovered a surprising player in autophagy process that can pave the way for developing therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and cancer.
- It is a key biological process where cells clear out damaged and unwanted materials.
- The autophagy pathway, which removes damaged material and defends against infections, is disrupted in diseases like Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s.
- When a cell fails to clear waste, its health suffers, especially in long-lived neurons.
- Autophagy is body’s cellular recycling system.
- It allows a cell to disassemble its junk parts and repurpose the salvageable bits and pieces into new, usable cell parts.
- Autophagy recycles damaged cell parts into fully functioning cell parts.
- It gets rid of nonfunctional cell parts that take up space and slow performance.
- It destroys pathogens in a cell that can damage it, like viruses and bacteria.
- Autophagy plays an important role when it comes to aging and longevity, too.
- Autophagy initially prevents cancer but later supports tumour growth and acts as a tumour suppressor by maintaining genome integrity and cellular homeostasis.
- In certain types of cancer, cells hijack autophagy for their own survival and propagation.
