Volume 48, Issue 12 pp. 1827-1837
REVIEW ARTICLE

Autophagy in skin barrier and immune-related skin diseases

Chi Liu

Chi Liu

Department of Geriatrics Center & National Clinical Research Center for Aging and Medicine, Jing’an District Centre Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Department of Cardiology, School of Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

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Lei Gu

Lei Gu

Department of Internal Medicine, Shanghai Shende Hospital, Shanghai, China

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Jie Ding

Jie Ding

Department of Gerontology, Jing’an District Centre Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

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Qianchao Meng

Qianchao Meng

Innovation Research Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China

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Nan Li

Nan Li

Department of Geriatrics Center & National Clinical Research Center for Aging and Medicine, Jing’an District Centre Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

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Guifeng Dai

Guifeng Dai

Department of Geriatrics Center & National Clinical Research Center for Aging and Medicine, Jing’an District Centre Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

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Qinying Li

Corresponding Author

Qinying Li

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Jing’an District Center Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Correspondence

Xueyong Wu, Department of Geriatrics Center & National Clinical Research Center for Aging and Medicine, Jing’an District Centre Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, 259 Xikang Road, Jing’an, Shanghai 200040, China.

Email: [email protected]

Qinying Li, Department of Rehabilitation medicine, Jing’an District Center Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China.

Email: [email protected]

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Xueyong Wu

Corresponding Author

Xueyong Wu

Department of Geriatrics Center & National Clinical Research Center for Aging and Medicine, Jing’an District Centre Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Correspondence

Xueyong Wu, Department of Geriatrics Center & National Clinical Research Center for Aging and Medicine, Jing’an District Centre Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, 259 Xikang Road, Jing’an, Shanghai 200040, China.

Email: [email protected]

Qinying Li, Department of Rehabilitation medicine, Jing’an District Center Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China.

Email: [email protected]

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First published: 16 October 2021
Citations: 16

Chi Liu, Lei Gu, and Jie Ding contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Autophagy is a process which is highly conserved in eukaryotes to degrade or recycle cytoplasmic components through lysosomes to maintain cellular homeostasis. Recent studies have shown that autophagy also plays critical roles in cell apoptosis, inflammation, pathogen clearance, and so on under stressed conditions and thereby has been linked to a variety of human disorders. The skin is the largest organ of the body and serves as the first line of defense against environmental insult. Skin as a nutrient-poor environment requires recycling of limited resources via the autophagy machinery to maintain homeostasis. Therefore, dysregulation of autophagy has been linked to skin diseases. In this review, we describe the molecular machinery and regulation of autophagy, discuss its role in keratinocytes and skin barrier, skin immune cells, and immune-related skin diseases including autoimmune skin disorders, allergic skin diseases, infectious skin disorders, and antitumor immunity against skin tumor. Finally, we highlight the potential of autophagy as a therapeutic target for immune-related skin diseases, and delivery of autophagy-related molecules (such as inducers, inhibitors, or nucleic acid molecules) by virtue of physical materials (such as nanoparticles) or biological materials (such as peptides) to skin topically may obtain clinical benefits in immune-related skin diseases. Moreover, developing autophagy-related gene product-based biomarkers may be promising to diagnose immune-related skin diseases.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None declared.

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