FIGURE 1: Autophagy acts as an antioxidant pathway in antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cells.

During the effector phase in wild type mice, autophagy regulates mitochondrial load, acting to maintain organelle quality and limiting ROS production. In the absence of autophagy, the mitochondrial burden of late effector CD8⁺ T cells (CD8⁺ T_eff) is increased, quality control is diminished, both of which contribute to excess ROS formation resulting in cell death.