doi: 10.5732/cjc.011.10185

Modulating autophagy: a strategy for cancer therapy

Jun-Lin Li, Shao-Liang Han, Xia Fan

Department of General Surgery, The Central Hospital of Yongzhou City, Yongzhou, Hunan 425000, P. R. China. leejunlin@live.cn.

[Abstract] Autophagy is a process in which long-lived proteins, damaged cell organelles, and other cellular particles are sequestered and degraded. This process is important for maintaining the cellular microenvironment when the cell is under stress. Many studies have shown that autophagy plays a complex role in human diseases, especially in cancer, where it is known to have paradoxical effects. Namely, autophagy provides the energy for metabolism and tumor growth and leads to cell death that promotes tumor suppression. The link between autophagy and cancer is also evident in that some of the genes that regulate carcinogenesis, oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, participate in or impact the autophagy process. Therefore, modulating autophagy will be a valuable topic for cancer therapy. Many studies have shown that autophagy can inhibit the tumor growth when autophagy modulators are combined with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. These findings suggest that autophagy may be a potent target for cancer therapy.

Chinese Journal of Cancer 2011, Volume: 30, Issue 10, Page: 655-668

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Jun-Lin Li, Shao-Liang Han, Xia Fan. Modulating autophagy: a strategy for cancer therapy. Chin J Cancer. 2011, 30(10):655-668. doi:10.5732/cjc.011.10185


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