The two faces of autophagy: Coxiella and Mycobacterium.

COLOMBO, M. I.; GUTIERREZ, M.G.; ROMANO, P. S.

Autophagy

Landes

Año: 2006 vol. 2 p. 162 - 164

1554-8635

In the world of pathogen-host cell interactions, the autophagic pathway has been recently described as a component of the innate immune response against intracellular microorganisms. Indeed, some bacterial survival mechanisms  are ineffective when this process is activated. In these way, Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection of macrophages is impaired upon autophagy induction and the bacterial phagosomes are redirected to autophagosomes. On the other hand, pathogens like Coxiella burnetii are benefited by this cellular response and subvert the autophagy process leading to a more efficient replication. We study at the molecular level these two different faces of the autophagy process in pathogen life in order to elucidate the intrincate routes modulated by different microorganisms as survival strategies