Beschreibung:
<jats:p>Macroautophagy, a homeostatic process that shuttles cytoplasmic constituents into endosomal and lysosomal compartments, has recently been shown to deliver antigens for presentation on major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II. Autophagy‐mediated antigen processing in thymic epithelial cells has been suggested to be involved in the generation of a self‐MHC restricted and self‐tolerant CD4<jats:sup>+</jats:sup> T cell repertoire. Furthermore, there is accumulating evidence that the up‐regulation of autophagy by pattern‐recognition receptor signaling represents an innate defense mechanism against intracellular pathogens. Thus, through linking pathogen breakdown with the presentation of pathogen‐derived autophagy substrates on MHC class II, autophagy serves a dual function at the interface of the innate and the adaptive immune response.</jats:p>