Table 1.

Autophagy and the immune system

Pathway	Role of Autophagy
Thymic selection	Elimination of autoreactive T cells in the thymus; involved in both negative and positive selection
Programmed cell death	Mediates growth-factor withdrawal induced cell death; anti-apoptosis in CD4 T cell upon TCR stimulation
Lymphocyte homeostasis	Survival signaling and homeostasis of T and B cells
T cell activation	Autophagy-dependent T cell expansion upon TCR stimulation; altered IL-2 and IFN-γ production in helper T cells
Apoptotic corpse clearance	Removal of apoptotic bodies and damaged organelles
Oxidative stress	Clearance of dysfunctional mitochondria; increases ROS production and modulates Ca2+ signaling
Antigen processing and presentation	Cross-presentation in dendritic cells; response to pathogen associated molecular patterns
Pathogen degradation	Xenophagy and phagolysosomal maturation
Cytokines production	Biogenesis and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-18), adipocytokines, type I IFN, TNF, IL-7Rα chain, etc.
Inflammasome activation	Limits inflammasome activity
Antimicrobial peptides	Mediates CD40-induced antimicrobial activity in macrophages
Cell differentiation	Involved in colony-stimulating factor 1-driven monocyte differentiation into macrophages; participates in B cell development