Role of autophagy in the eye: from physiology to disease

Autophagy is a conserved catabolic process that delivers cytoplasmic materials to the lysosome for degradation. Recent studies indicate that autophagy is essential for maintaining vision by regulating intracellular homeostasis in various structures of the eye, including the lens, retina, cornea, and trabecular meshwork. Dysregulated autophagy causes ocular diseases such as cataract, glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, and age-related macular degeneration. Autophagy-independent degradation pathways such as LC3-associated phagocytosis in the retina and cytosolic PLAAT phospholipase-mediated organelle degradation in the lens are also physiologically important. Here, I summarize recent findings on the role of autophagy and related pathways in ocular physiology and disease.