Research progress of autophagy in cardiovascular disease

Autophagy is a catabolic process in which damaged, denatured or long-lived proteins are degraded in lysosomal degradative machinery, which is essential to maintaining homeostasis in the composition, degradation and reuse of cellular components. Cellular autophagy has the functions of cellular housekeeping to keep the integrity of intracellular homeostasis. Autophagy is a widespread physiological process under normal conditions, whereas in an adverse environment autophagy is thought to be a defense, participating in the pathological process of various diseases. This review will present the most recent advances in the research of autophagy in ischemic-reperfusion injury, acute coronary syndrome, heart failure and atherosclerosis.