Potential Therapeutic Approaches through Modulating the Autophagy Process for Skin Barrier Dysfunction

Abstract

Autophagy is an attractive process to researchers who are seeking novel potential treat-ments for various diseases. Autophagy plays a critical role in degrading damaged cellular orga-nelles, supporting normal cell development, and maintaining cellular homeostasis. Because of the various effects of autophagy, recent human genome research has focused on evaluating the relationship between autophagy and a wide variety of diseases, such as autoimmune diseases, cancers, and inflammatory diseases. The skin is the largest organ in the body and provides the first line of defense against environmental hazards, including UV damage, chemical toxins, injuries, oxidative stress, and microorganisms. Autophagy takes part in endogenous defense mechanisms by control-ling skin homeostasis. In this manner, regulating autophagy might contribute to the treatment of skin barrier dysfunctions. Various studies are ongoing to elucidate the association between autoph-agy and skin-related diseases in order to find potential therapeutic approaches. However, little evidence has been gathered about the relationship between autophagy and the skin. In this review, we highlight the previous findings of autophagy and skin barrier disorders and suggest potential therapeutic strategies. The recent research regarding autophagy in acne and skin aging is also discussed. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.