Abstract

Autophagy is a cellular degradation pathway for the clearance of damaged or superfluous proteins and organelles. The recycling of these intracellular constituents also serves as an alternative energy source during periods of metabolic stress to maintain homeostasis and viability. In tumour cells with defects in apoptosis, autophagy allows prolonged survival. Paradoxically, autophagy defects are associated with increased tumorigenesis, but the mechanism behind this has not been determined. Recent evidence suggests that autophagy provides a protective function to limit tumour necrosis and inflammation, and to mitigate genome damage in tumour cells in response to metabolic stress.

Keywords

AutophagyCell biologyCarcinogenesisApoptosisOrganelleProgrammed cell deathBiologyIntracellularInflammationHomeostasisCancer cellLysosomeCancerCancer researchImmunologyBiochemistryEnzymeGenetics

MeSH Terms

Antineoplastic AgentsApoptosisAutophagyCell SurvivalChemopreventionDNA DamageGenesTumor SuppressorHumansNecrosisNeoplasmsStressPhysiological

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Publication Info

Year
2007
Type
review
Volume
7
Issue
12
Pages
961-967
Citations
1757
Access
Closed

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Cite This

Robin Mathew, Vassiliki Karantza‐Wadsworth, Eileen White (2007). Role of autophagy in cancer. Nature reviews. Cancer , 7 (12) , 961-967. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc2254

Identifiers

DOI
10.1038/nrc2254
PMID
17972889
PMCID
PMC2866167

Data Quality

Data completeness: 90%