cells Review Taming the Autophagy as a Strategy for Treating COVID-19 Blanca Estela García-Pérez 1,*, Juan Antonio González-Rojas 1, Ma Isabel Salazar 1, Carlos Torres-Torres 2 and Nayeli Shantal Castrejón-Jiménez 3 1 Department of Microbiology, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Prolongación de Carpio y Plan de Ayala S/N, Col. Santo Tomás, Alcaldía Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City 11340, Mexico;
[email protected] (J.A.G.-R.),
[email protected] (M.I.S.) 2 Sección de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigación, Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica, Unidad Zacatenco, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Gustavo A. Madero, Mexico City 07738, Mexico;
[email protected] 3 Área Académica de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias-Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Av. Universidad km. 1. Exhacienda de Aquetzalpa A.P. 32, Tulancingo, Hidalgo 43600, Mexico;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
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[email protected]; Tel.: +52-553-988-7773 (ext. 46209) Received: 4 November 2020; Accepted: 8 December 2020; Published: 13 December 2020 Abstract: Currently, an efficient treatment for COVID-19 is still unavailable, and people are continuing to die from complications associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Thus, the development of new therapeutic approaches is urgently needed, and one alternative is to target the mechanisms of autophagy. Due to its multifaceted role in physiological processes, many questions remain unanswered about the possible advantages of inhibiting or activating autophagy. Based on a search of the literature in this field, a novel analysis has been made to highlight the relation between the mechanisms of autophagy in antiviral and inflammatory activity in contrast with those of the pathogenesis of COVID-19.