Highlighting roles of autophagy in human diseases: a perspective from single-cell RNA sequencing analyses

Autophagy, the lysosome-driven breakdown of intracellular components, is pivotal in regulating eukaryotic cellular processes and maintaining homeostasis, making it physiologically important even under normal conditions. Cellular mechanisms that involve autophagy include the starvation response, intracellular quality control, early development, and cell differentiation. Despite its established health significance, the role of autophagy in cancer and other diseases is unclear. It is important to understand this mechanism thoroughly so that innovative therapies against various diseases can be designed and implemented and so that drugs can be developed to protect human health. High-throughput technologies have allowed researchers to study transcriptional landscapes at single-cell resolution, improving our understanding of autophagy pathways in various physiological and pathological conditions. This paper discusses single-cell RNA sequencing advances in autophagy research and the molecular characterization of multiple diseases.