Autophagy is an intracellular conservative degradation pathway. This event has been considered as a key step in host defense against bacterial infection. However, Porphyromonas gingivalis, as one of the evidence-sufficient periodontal pathogens, can utilize self-induced autophagy to achieve persistent intracellular survival and proliferation, which enable this organism to escape from host immune surveillance. This review focuses on molecular mechanism of P. gingivalis internali-zation and autophagy to illuminate its pathogenesis and to further explore the relationship between P. gingivalis and systemic diseases.
