Autophagy is an evolutionarily well-conserved process in which cellular components such as protein aggregates, damaged organelles or invaded pathogens are delivered to lysosome for degradation. In mammalian cells, there are two major types of autophagy, autophagosome-dependent macroautophagy (referred as autophagy) and autophagosome-independent (CMA, microautophagy, endosomal microautophagy, etc). Autophagy is known to be controlled by a group of proteins encoded by the autophagy-related genes (ATGs) and plays important roles in various physiological and pathological processes and in health and diseases. 
At present, there is accumulating evidence demonstrating the implication of the autophagy-lysosome pathway in burns and trauma, via regulation of various biological processes such as inflammation, immune responses, cell death and cell proliferation, stem cell biology, fibrosis, etc. Therefore, the aim of this special issue is to provide a comprehensive coverage of the relevant topics with contributions from experts in the above-mentioned fields, including expert reviews and original research articles.