title: [The relationship between autophagy and ocular diseases].
abstract: Autophagy is an intracellular degradative process used by eukaryotes that delivers cellular constituents to lysosomal degradation, such as damaged, degenerated or long-lived proteins, and excessive or defective organelles. Dysfunction of autophagy is involved in many human diseases, such as cancers, ageing, infectious and neurodegenerative diseases. A number of studies have shown that autophagy-related proteins are constitutively expressed in the eye, and abnormal autophagy is an important pathological feature of some ocular diseases. This article reviews recent advances in understanding the role of autophagy in the pathogenesis of ocular diseases, including cataract.
authors.affiliation: Medical College of Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Lixin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D001343:Autophagy / Q000502:physiology*; D002386:Cataract / Q000209:etiology; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000209:etiology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000209:etiology