Open AccessThe Question of Survival or Death: What Is the Role of Autophagy in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)?
Author(s) -
Atousa Haghi,
Mahnaz Mohammadi Kian,
Mahdieh Salemi,
Mohammad Reza Eghdami,
Mohsen Nikbakht
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
international journal of hematology- oncology and stem cell research.
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.436
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 2008-3009
pISSN - 2008-2207
DOI - 10.18502/ijhoscr.v16i4.10883
Subject(s) - autophagy , myeloid leukemia , leukemia , cancer research , programmed cell death , apoptosis , chemotherapy , mechanism (biology) , biology , medicine , immunology , genetics , philosophy , epistemology
Autophagy plays a critical role in balancing sources of energy in response to harsh conditions and nutrient deprivation. Autophagy allows cells to survive in harsh condition and also serve as a death mechanism. Any dysregulation in autophagy signaling may lead to several disorders. Autophagy has been proposed to explain chemotherapy resistance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This signaling pathway can either act as a tumor suppressive function or chemo-resistance mechanism. Conventional chemotherapy drugs enhance apoptosis and indicate clinical benefit, but in some cases, relapse and chemotherapy resistance are observed. In leukemia, autophagy may promote cell survival in response to chemotherapy drugs. Therefore, new strategies by inhibiting or activating autophagy may find a broad application for treating leukemia and may significantly enhance clinical outcomes. In this review, we discussed the dimensional role of autophagy in leukemia.