Targeting autophagy in neurodegenerative diseases: From molecular mechanisms to clinical therapeutics

Abstract Many neurodegenerative diseases are associated with pathological aggregation of proteins in neurons. Autophagy is a natural self‐cannibalization process that can act as a powerful mechanism to remove aged and damaged organelles as well as protein aggregates. It has been shown that promoting autophagy can attenuate or delay neurodegeneration by removing protein aggregates. In this paper, we will review the role of autophagy in Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's Disease (PD), and Huntington's Disease (HD) and discuss opportunities and challenges of targeting autophagy as a potential therapeutic avenue for treatment of these common neurodegenerative diseases.