Dear Colleagues,

Autophagy is a catabolic process by which obsolete or damaged components of the cell are delivered to the lysosome for degradation. Autophagy is essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis. Three types of autophagy are defined based on the mechanism by which cytosolic material is delivered to the lysosome: macroautophagy, microautophagy, and chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA). Unfortunately, autophagic activity declines with aging, and compromised autophagy is a hallmark of aging. Defective autophagy with age contributes to the loss of proteostasis in old organisms, leading to the accumulation of damaged macromolecules, organelles, and proteinaceous aggregates and ultimately causing toxicity in tissues and organs. Given that autophagy failure contributes to the worsening of multiple age-related diseases, a better understanding of the basics of age-related decline of autophagy is imperative to develop a means to enhance autophagy as future therapeutic tools.

This Special Issue offers the opportunity to contribute and publish research findings, reviews, and perspectives. We encourage the submission of manuscripts with a focus on cellular and molecular biology that cover autophagy-related topics in the context of aging and age-related diseases.

This Special Issue will cover the following topics:

• Pathological impact of autophagy on aging and age-related diseases.
• In vivo and in vitro models for studying the significance of autophagic failure in normal aging and age-related diseases.

• Novel use of nutritional compounds, phytocompounds, plant extracts, and pharmacological drugs to boost autophagic function.
• Different strategies to boost autophagic function and prevent the deleterious effects of aging.

• Epidemiological studies providing information about autophagy malfunction and age-related debilities.
• Use of antioxidants in aging models and their impact on the interplay between oxidative stress and autophagy in aging and aging-related diseases.

Dr. Eloy Bejarano Fernandez, Dr. Marina García Macia and Dr. Lucia Gimeno Mallench
Guest Editors