AUTHOR=Chen Yu-Qing , Gao Lian-Di , Liu Yi-Lin , Shen Ya , Diao Jia-Le , Yang Wei-Hua , Wei Rui-Li 

TITLE=Autophagy in graves’ ophthalmopathy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2023.1158279

DOI=10.3389/fcell.2023.1158279

ISSN=2296-634X

ABSTRACT=Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease affecting the eyes. It can significantly alter the quality of life in such patients because of its distinctive pathological appearance and the effect it has on their vision. To date, the exact pathological mechanism of GO has not been explicitly discovered. However, many studies have associated autophagy with this disease. Autophagy is a catabolic process that helps maintain homeostasis in all organisms by protecting the cells and tissues from various endogenous and exogenous stresses. In this study, we observed that patients affected with GO have comparatively elevated levels of autophagy, thereby critically affecting the pathological mechanism of the GO. In this review, we have summarized the autophagy mechanism in the pathogenesis of GO.