Open AccessDual Roles of Autophagy and Their Potential Drugs for Improving Cancer Therapeutics
Author(s) -
Dong Wook Shin
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
biomolecules and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.977
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 2005-4483
pISSN - 1976-9148
DOI - 10.4062/biomolther.2020.155
Subject(s) - autophagy , cancer , cancer cell , biology , cancer research , dual role , medicine , bioinformatics , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biochemistry , genetics , apoptosis , combinatorial chemistry
Autophagy is a major catabolic process that maintains cell metabolism by degrading damaged organelles and other dysfunctional proteins via the lysosome. Abnormal regulation of this process has been known to be involved in the progression of pathophysiological diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Although the mechanisms for the regulation of autophagic pathways are relatively well known, the precise regulation of this pathway in the treatment of cancer remains largely unknown. It is still complicated whether the regulation of autophagy is beneficial in improving cancer. Many studies have demonstrated that autophagy plays a dual role in cancer by suppressing the growth of tumors or the progression of cancer development, which seems to be dependent on unknown characteristics of various cancer types. This review summarizes the key targets involved in autophagy and malignant transformation. In addition, the opposing tumor-suppressive and oncogenic roles of autophagy in cancer, as well as potential clinical therapeutics utilizing either regulators of autophagy or combinatorial therapeutics with anti-cancer drugs have been discussed.