Autophagy is a survival force via suppression of necrotic cell death

Macroautophagy or autophagy is a self-digesting mechanism that the cellular contents are engulfed by autophagosomes and delivered to lysosomes for degradation. Although it has been well established that autophagy is an important protective mechanism for cells under stress such as starvation via provision of nutrients and removal of protein aggregates and damaged mitochondria, there is a very complex relation between autophagy and cell death. At present, the molecular cross-talk between autophagy and apoptosis has been well discussed, while the relationship between autophagy and programmed necrotic cell death is less understood. In this review we focus on the role of autophagy in necrotic cell death by detailed discussion on two important forms of necrotic cell death: (i) necroptosis and (ii) poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)-mediated cell death. It is believed that one important aspect of the pro-survival function of autophagy is achieved via its ability to block various forms of necrotic cell death. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.