Mitophagy in infectious diseases: a review

Abstract:

As a selective form of autophagy, mitophagy has recently been considered as a research focus. It has been reported that mitophagy has a critical role in eliminating damaged or excessive mitochondria to maintain the cellular homeostasis. In recent years, accumulating studies have focused on mitophagy hijacked by pathogens in regulating innate immune signaling pathways to manipulate the course of infectious diseases. This article reviews the progress of mitophagy in the infectious diseases caused by virus, bacteria and fungi, aiming at providing a new reference for further strategies of prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.

Key words:mitophagy, infectious diseases, pathogens