Translational Medical Research Commons^™

Autophagy And Airway Fibrosis: Is There A Link?, Pawan K. Sharma, Anudeep Kota, Deepak A. Deshpande, Mehra Haghi, Brian G. Oliver

Center for Translational Medicine Faculty Papers

In the past decade, an emerging process named “autophagy” has generated intense interest in many chronic lung diseases. Tissue remodeling and fibrosis is a common feature of many airway diseases, and current therapies do not prevent or reverse these structural changes. Autophagy has evolved as a conserved process for bulk degradation and recycling of cytoplasmic components to maintain basal cellular homeostasis and healthy organelle populations in the cell. Furthermore, autophagy serves as a cell survival mechanism and can also be induced by chemical and physical stress to the cell. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that autophagy plays an essential role in vital …