title: Autophagy and antiviral immunity.
abstract: Autophagy is an ancient pathway designed to maintain cellular homeostasis by degrading long-lived proteins and organelles in the cytosol. Recent studies demonstrate that autophagy is utilized by the cells of the innate and adaptive immune systems to combat viral infections. Autophagy plays a key role in recognizing signatures of viral infection, and represents a critical effector mechanism to restrict viral replication. On the other hand, autophagosomes have been exploited by certain viruses as a niche for viral replication. Furthermore, autophagy can be used to deliver endogenous viral antigens to the MHC class II loading compartment, allowing activation of CD4 T cells. In this review, we describe recent advances in the field of autophagy as it relates to innate and adaptive antiviral immune responses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Heung Kyu
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
mesh_terms: D001343:Autophagy; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D014779:Virus Replication; D014780:Viruses / Q000472:pathogenicity