Autophagy and the immune function in aging

• Different forms of autophagy play key roles regulating innate and adaptive immunity.
• New functions of autophagy are reshaping the understanding of how autophagy modulates immunity.
• An age-associated dysregulation of autophagy in immune cells may underlie immunosenescence.

Just when you thought that you had heard it all about autophagy — the conserved cellular process that mediates turnover of cellular constituents in the lysosomes — studies keep coming out highlighting new types of autophagy, new functions for autophagy or even new autophagy-independent roles for the proteins associated with this process. The field of immunology has been riding the autophagic wave since the beginning of its revival; first due to its role in the host defense against pathogens, and more recently through the better understanding of the unique characteristics and functions of different autophagic pathways in immune cells. Here, we describe some of these new functions that are tightening the connection between autophagy and acquired or innate immunity and their malfunctioning with age.