More of the cellular housekeeping process of autophagy appears to be an unalloyed good: more repair means less damage. It shows up in a range of interventions that modestly slow aging in mice and other species, such as calorie restriction. In fact it may even be essential to the ability of calorie restriction to extend healthy life spans in these studies. One place in which greater levels of autophagy might do some good is in the development of atherosclerosis, a pervasive age-related condition in which an overreaction to minor molecular damage in blood vessel walls snowballs into zones of inflammation and growing plaques made up of fats and dead cells. Eventually these plaques cause ruptures or blockages of major blood vessels that are frequently fatal. Higher levels of autophagy should slow the pace of progression of this problem through increased clearance of plaque materials, though it seems clear from the data here that much more aggressive interventions to clean up the waste and damage will be needed to solve it completely. The effects are small.

Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2016.07.899