Autophagy: Cancer, Other Pathologies, Inflammation, Immunity, Infection, and Aging is an eleven volume series that discusses in detail all aspects of autophagy machinery in the context of health, cancer, and other pathologies. Autophagy maintains homeostasis during starvation or stress conditions by balancing the synthesis of cellular components and their deregulation by autophagy. This series discusses the characterization of autophagosome-enriched vaccines and its efficacy in cancer immunotherapy. Autophagy serves to maintain healthy cells, tissues, and organs, but also promotes cancer survival and growth of established tumors. Impaired or deregulated autophagy can also contribute to disease pathogenesis. Understanding the importance and necessity of the role of autophagy in health and disease is vital for the studies of cancer, aging, neurodegeneration, immunology, and infectious diseases. Comprehensive and forward-thinking, these books offer a valuable guide to cellular processes while also inciting researchers to explore their potentially important connections. - Presents the most advanced information regarding the role of the autophagic system in life and death - Examines whether autophagy acts fundamentally as a cell survivor or cell death pathway or both - Introduces new, more effective therapeutic strategies in the development of targeted drugs and programmed cell death, providing information that will aid in preventing detrimental inflammation - Features recent advancements in the molecular mechanisms underlying a large number of genetic and epigenetic diseases and abnormalities, including atherosclerosis and CNS tumors, and their development and treatment - Includes chapters authored by leaders in the field around the globe—the broadest, most expert coverage available

This book series consists of 3 volumes covering the basic science (Volume 1), clinical science (Volume 2) and the technology and methodology (Volume 3) of autophagy. Volume 1 focuses on the biology of autophagy, including the signaling pathways, regulating processes and biological functions. Autophagy is a fundamental physiological process in eukaryotic cells. It not only regulates normal cellular homeostasis, and organ development and function, but also plays an important role in the pathogenesis of a wide range of human diseases. Thanks to the rapid development of molecular biology and omic technologies, research on autophagy has boomed in recent decades, and more and more cellular and animal models and state-of the-art technologies are being used to shed light on the complexity of signaling networks involved in the autophagic process. Further, its involvement in biological functions and the pathogenesis of various diseases has attracted increased attention around the globe. Presenting cutting-edge knowledge, this book series is a useful reference resource for researchers and clinicians who are working on or interested in autophagy.

Autophagy: Cancer, Other Pathologies, Inflammation, Immunity, Infection, and Aging: Volume 9: Human Diseases and Autophagosome offers a valuable guide to both cellular processes while helping researchers explore their potentially important connections. Volume 9 emphasizes the role of autophagy in diseases, such as leukemia, antifungal and antibacterial immunity, and transplantation. This volume also explains, in detail, the molecular mechanism(s) underlying the formation of autophagosomes, including the progression of omegasomes to autophagosomes. This information is important because one of the major functions of autophagy is to degrade and eliminate excessive, old, and harmful materials from the cell. Autophagosomes receive these materials (cellular cargo) and transport them to lysosomes for degradation. Lysosomes contain the digestive enzymes (hydrolases) that breakdown proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, etc. (self-digestion). To further explain this phenomenon, the role of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in the formation of autophagosomes is discussed. ULK1 and Beclin 1 proteins are also important in the initial formation of autophagosomes, and are also discussed. Because much of the early research in this area was carried out using yeast cells, the role of Golgi complex in the autophagosome formation in these cells is explained. This volume also includes an explanation of the role of the autophagy-related gene ATG5 in cancer (e.g., gastrointestinal cancer). Paradoxically, autophagy is a “double-edged sword because it eliminates some pathogens, whereas it can be used by some intracellular pathogens to multiply and cause infection. This book is an asset to newcomers, providing a concise overview of the role of autophagy in necrosis and inflammation, while also serving as an excellent reference for more experienced scientists and clinicians. Presents the most advanced information regarding the role of the autophagic system in life and death emphasizes autophagy in diseases, such as leukemia Introduces new, more effective therapeutic strategies in the development of targeted drugs and programmed cell death, providing information that will aid in preventing detrimental inflammation States recent advancements in the molecular mechanisms underlying a large number of genetic and epigenetic diseases and abnormalities Edited work with chapters authored by leaders in the field from around the globe—the broadest, most expert coverage available

Autophagy is a fundamental biological process that enables cells to autodigest their own cytosol during starvation and other forms of stress. It has a growing spectrum of acknowledged roles in immunity, aging, development, neurodegeneration, and cancer biology. An immunological role of autophagy was first recognized with the discovery of autophagy’s ability to sanitize the cellular interior by killing intracellular microbes. Since then, the repertoire of autophagy’s roles in immunity has been vastly expanded to include a diverse but interconnected portfolio of regulatory and effector functions. Autophagy is an effector of Th1/Th2 polarization; it fuels MHC II presentation of cytosolic (self and microbial) antigens; it shapes central tolerance; it affects B and T cell homeostasis; it acts both as an effector and a regulator of Toll-like receptor and other innate immunity receptor signaling; and it may help ward off chronic inflammatory disease in humans. With such a multitude of innate and adaptive immunity functions, the study of autophagy in immunity is one of the most rapidly growing fields of contemporary immunological research. This book introduces the reader to the fundamentals of autophagy, guides a novice and the well-informed reader alike through different immunological aspects of autophagy as well as the countermeasures used by highly adapted pathogens to fight autophagy, and provides the expert with the latest, up-to-date information on the specifics of the leading edge of autophagy research in infection and immunity.

Many individual aspects of the dynamics and assembly of biological membranes have been studied in great detail. Cell biological approaches, advanced genetics, biophysics and biochemistry have greatly contributed to an increase in our knowledge in this field.lt is obvious however, that the three major membrane constituents - lipids, proteins and carbohydrates- are studied, in most cases separately and that a coherent overview of the various aspects of membrane biogenesis is not readily available. The NATO Advanced Study Institute on "New Perspectives in the Dynamics of Assembly of Biomembranes" intended to provide such an overview: it was set up to teach students and specialists the achievements obtained in the various research areas and to try and integrate the numerous aspects of membrane assembly into a coherent framework. The articles in here reflect this. Statting with detailed contributions on phospholipid structure, dynamics, organization and biogenesis, an up to date overview of the basic, lipidic backbone of biomembranes is given. Extensive progress is made in the research on membrane protein biosynthesis. In particular the post- and co-translational modification processes of proteins, the mechanisms of protein translocation and the sorting mechanisms which are necessary to direct proteins to their final, intra - or extracellular destination have been characterized in detail. Modern genetic approaches were indispensable in this research area: gene cloning, hybrid protein construction, site directed mutagenesis and sequencing techniques elucidated many functional aspects of specific nucleic acid and amino acid sequences.

This book consists of 3 volumes: Basic Science (Volume 1), Clinical Science (Volume 2) and Technology and Methodology (Volume 3). Volume 2 focuses on the clinical aspects of autophagy research, discussing the role of autophagy in neuropsychiatric disorders, the cardiovascular, immune, digestive and endocrine systems, as well as tumors, infection, the kidney, and the respiratory and hematological systems. It also addresses autophagy-related drug development. Written and edited by a team of 90 experts, and presenting the state of the art in autophagy research, this book is a valuable reference resource for researchers and clinicians alike. It can also be used as supplementary material for graduate students majoring in biology and medicine

Plant diseases are destructive and threaten virtually any crop grown on a commercial scale. They are kept in check by plant breeding strategies that have introgressed disease resistance genes into many important crops, and by the deployment of costly control measures, such as antibiotics and fungicides. However, the capacity for the agents of plant disease - viruses, bacteria, fungi, and oomycetes - to adapt to new conditions, overcoming disease resistance and becoming resistant to pesticides, is very great. For these reasons, understanding the biology of plant diseases is essential for the development of durable control strategies. Plant-Pathogen Interactions provides and overview of our current knowledge of plant-pathogen interactions and the establishment of plant disease, drawing together fundamental new information on plant infection mechanisms and host responses. The role of molecular signals, gene regulation, and the physiology of pathogenic organisms are emphasized, but the role of the prevailing environment in the conditioning of disease is also discussed. Emphasizing the broader understanding that has emerged from the use of molecular genetics and genomics, Plant-Pathogen Interactions highlights those interactions that have been most widely studied and those in which genome information has provided a new level of understanding.