Autophagy is a mechanism that causes the degradation of unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components with the use of lysosomal machinery. Autophagy can be used to regulate cellular energy levels and the recycling of cellular components. In certain diseases, autophagy works to inhibit the proliferation of dangerous cells in a process known as autophagic cell death. The cell death is not fully caused by autophagy, however, and most cases are termed cell death with autophagy. This is because some scientists believe that the autophagic mechanisms that occur during cell death may actually be a survival attempt rather than a method of destroying cells. In cases of autophagic cell death, there is an absence of chromatin condensation but the early degradation of organelles causes cytoplasmic vacuolization. There is no tissue inflammatory response, as is seen in other types of cell death. Autophagic cell death may be an important method of destroying dangerous cells in diseases such as cancer, but more research must be conducted to fully understand the mechanism and initiation of this function.
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