The innate immune system defends us against most viral exposures. However, successful viruses and bacteria evolved effective immune evasion mechanisms. One strategy to prevent infectious diseases is to strengthen anti-microbial immune defenses, such as autophagy. However, available drugs targeting autophagy cause severe adverse effects because they lack specificity. The project discovered three novel endogenous peptides that modulate autophagy. Main goals are to determine their molecular mechanisms as well as physiological roles and to optimize their anti-microbial activity. Autophagy is also dysregulated in many cancers and cooperative studies will assess whether autophagy-regulating peptides may also benefit cancer therapy.

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