Study on the Regulatory Mechanism and Targeted Therapy of Autophagy in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

¹ State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Intervention, Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medicine and Clinical Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 211198, Jiangsu, China.

APM 2026 , 11(2), 192–199; https://doi.org/10.18063/APM.v11i2.1413

© 2026 by the Author. Licensee Whioce Publishing, Singapore. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

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Abstract

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) causes significant mortality worldwide, yet lacks specific pharmacological interventions. Autophagy, a critical cellular response to ARDS triggers like infection and hypoxia, regulates alveolar repair and immune modulation. Although macroautophagy is extensively characterized in ARDS, microautophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) remain poorly understood. This paper comprehensively reviews the molecular mechanisms of all three autophagy subtypes in ARDS, highlighting their potential as novel diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets.

Keywords

Macroautophagy

Microautophagy

Chaperone-mediated autophagy

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

References

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