Introduction: Autophagy is a conserved catabolic process that helps recycle intracellular components to maintain homeostasis. The completion of autophagy requires the synergistic effect of multiple canonical autophagic proteins. Defects in autophagy machinery have been reported to promote diseases, rendering autophagy a bone fide health-modifying agent. However, the clinical implication of canonical pan-autophagic activators or inhibitors has often led to undesirable side effects, making it urgent to find a safer autophagy-related therapeutic target. The discovery of non-canonical autophagic proteins has been found to specifically affect the development of diseases without causing a universal impact on autophagy and has shed light on finding a safer way to utilize autophagy in the therapeutic context.
Areas covered: This review summarizes recently discovered non-canonical autophagic proteins, how these proteins influence autophagy, and their potential therapeutic role in the disease due to their interaction with autophagy.
Expert opinion: Several therapies have been studied thus far and continued research is needed to identify the potential that non-canonical autophagic proteins have for treating certain diseases. In the meantime, continue to uncover new non-canonical autophagic proteins and examine which are likely to have therapeutic implications.
Keywords: Autophagy; Non-canonical autophagic proteins; diseases; therapeutic targets.