Autophagy in stress and disease

Macroautophagy, here referred to as ‘autophagy,' constitutes one of the most spectacular phenomena in cell biology beyond cell fusion, cell division, differentiation and demise. Metaphorically spoken, it constitutes a process in which the cell sequesters portions of itself in its stomach (the autophagosomes) and then assures their complete degradation in its digestive tract (the lysosomes).