Autophagy, or cellular self-digestion, is a cellular pathway crucial for the development, differentiation, survival, and homeostasis of cells. Many autophagy-involved proteins had been identified as being modulated by posttranslational mechanisms, including posttranslational modification, protein-protein interactions, and protein cleavage. Normal liver function requires hepatocellular basal autophagy. Due to their high biosynthetic activity and role in protein and carbohydrate storage, hepatocytes may be particularly dependent on basal autophagy.

In normal liver physiology, as well as in several liver diseases, autophagy plays a critical role. For example, autophagy might play a dual role in cancer development: autophagy can serve as an antitumor mechanism, as defective autophagy promotes the malignant transformation and spontaneous tumors. On the other hand, autophagy functions as a protective or survival mechanism in cancer cells against cellular stress (e.g., nutrient deprivation, hypoxia, and DNA damage) and hence promotes tumorigenesis and causes resistance to therapeutic agents. Autophagy seems to play an important role in the pathogenesis of liver diseases such as nonalcoholic and alcoholic fatty liver, drug-induced liver injury, protein aggregate-related liver diseases, viral hepatitis, fibrosis, aging, ischemia-reperfusion liver injury, and liver cancer.

Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying autophagy modulation and liver disease development may provoke the translational studies that ultimately lead to new therapeutic strategies for liver diseases.

We invite investigators to contribute original review articles and research articles that will underline the role of autophagy in liver diseases and that will improve strategies to target, follow, and treat liver diseases. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Autophagy in liver physiology and metabolism
• Autophagy and genetic liver disease
• Autophagy and acute liver injury
• Autophagy and liver ischemia-reperfusion injury
• Autophagy and viral hepatitis
• Autophagy in alcoholic liver disease
• Autophagy and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
• Autophagy and liver tumors
• Autophagy and immunologic liver disorders
• Druggable targets: in the present and future

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal’s Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/bmri/hepatology/ald/ according to the following timetable: