title: Autophagic cell death: the story of a misnomer.
abstract: Dying cells often display a large-scale accumulation of autophagosomes and hence adopt a morphology called autophagic cell death. In many cases, it is agreed that this autophagic cell death is cell death with autophagy rather than cell death by autophagy. Here, we evaluate the accumulating body of literature that argues that cell death occurs by autophagy. We also list the caveats that must be considered when deciding whether or not autophagy is an important effector mechanism of cell death.
authors.affiliation: Institut Gustave Roussy, F-94805 Villejuif, France. kroemer@igr.fr
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kroemer
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Levine
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D001343:Autophagy / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D016923:Cell Death / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008247:Lysosomes / Q000235:genetics / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009336:Necrosis / Q000473:pathology; D010588:Phagosomes / Q000235:genetics / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009626:Terminology as Topic