The role of host autophagy in intracellular protozoan parasites diseases

Intracellular protozoan parasites are the etiologic agents of important human diseases, like malaria, Chagas disease, toxoplasmosis, and leishmaniasis. Inside host cells, these parasites manipulate the host metabolism and intracellular trafficking for their own benefits and, inevitably, induce several stress response mechanisms. In this review, we discuss autophagy as a stress response mechanism that can be both (i) explored by these intracellular parasites to acquire nutrients and (ii) to restrict parasite proliferation and survival within host cells. We also discuss the immunomodulatory role of autophagy as a strategy to reduce inflammatory-mediated damage, an essential player in the pathophysiology of these parasitic diseases. At last, we propose and discuss several known autophagy modulators as possible pharmaceuticals for adjunctive therapies.