title: Interactions between Autophagy and Bacterial Toxins: Targets for Therapy?
abstract: Autophagy is a physiological process involved in defense mechanisms for clearing intracellular bacteria. The autophagic pathway is finely regulated and bacterial toxins interact with this process in a complex manner. Bacterial toxins also interact significantly with many biochemical processes. Evaluations of the effects of bacterial toxins, such as endotoxins, pore-forming toxins and adenylate cyclases, on autophagy could support the development of new strategies for counteracting bacterial pathogenicity. Treatment strategies could focus on drugs that enhance autophagic processes to improve the clearance of intracellular bacteria. However, further in vivo studies are required to decipher the upregulation of autophagy and potential side effects limiting such approaches. The capacity of autophagy activation strategies to improve the outcome of antibiotic treatment should be investigated in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées (IRBA), BP 73, Bretigny-sur-orge cedex F-91223, France. jacques.mathieu@irba.fr.|Laboratoire Pathogénie des Toxi-infections Bactériennes, Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris cedex 15 F-75725, France . jacques.mathieu@irba.fr.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mathieu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001343:Autophagy / Q000187:drug effects*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001427:Bacterial Toxins
keywords: autophagy; bacterial toxins; cyclic AMP; therapeutic targets