Protection of autophagy in heart and clinical significance

It is widely accepted that morbidity and mortality of heart diseases continues at a growing pace and novel therapies have fallen behind. In recent years, investigators have focused a great deal of attention to the signaling pathways involved in heart diseases, which may become the next novel therapeutic targets for heart disease. Autophagy, a double-edged sword, is essential for normal cell growth but is also involved in disease pathogenesis. The biggest challenge is how to appropriately regulate autophagy for therapeutic gains.