Autophagy is an essential biological process for cells to maintain their homeostasis. It is a complex regulatory system that integrates innate and adaptive immunity. The role of autophagy in immune diseases has been paid more and more attention with the deepening of the mutual regulation and mechanism of autophagy and immunity. It is found that the aberrant autophagy is closely related to inflammatory diseases, including infections, adaptive immune-associated inflammation and inflammatory bowel disease. Autophagy plays critical roles in the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome, the clearance of bacterial and viral infections and what is more, the function of adaptive immune cells.
Keywords: Antigen presentation; Autophagy; Infection; Inflammasome; Inflammatory bowel disease.