CFTR and cystic fibrosis: Based on the known autophagy inducing properties of cysteamine, we postulated that PAMAM-DENCYS would not only function to restore ΔF508-CFTR to the cell membrane, but also decrease Pa infection and thus diminish bacterial virulence in CF airway epithelial cells by autophagy mediated bacterial clearance, in addition to its other anti-microbial effects.