Download or read book Autophagy - A Double-Edged Sword written by Yannick Bailly and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 526 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The chapters in this book review the latest advances in the molecular mechanisms of autophagy, highlighting some of the most challenging research topics. The focus is mainly on how this basic cell defense mechanism comes into play in various pathologies, including liver diseases, myopathies, infectious diseases, cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. In these diseases, the contradictory autophagy roles of cell survival versus cell death emphasize the necessity of taking into account this double-edged nature in future development of already promising, autophagy- modulating, therapies.