Autophagy and cancer drug discovery

Abstract

Autophagy is a highly conserved lysosomal degradation pathway that is important for maintaining cellular homeostasis by degrading bulk cytoplasm and superfluous or damaged organelles. Autophagy plays a dual role in cancer because it suppresses tumorigenesis and also promotes cancer cell survival for existing tumors. Therefore, targeting autophagy has become a promising therapeutic approach for preventing or treating cancers. With the rapid progression of autophagy research and our expanding knowledge on autophagy machinery and regulation pathways, many high-throughput screening assays have been established and conducted. Here, we summarize potential autophagy proteins and signaling pathways that could be drug targets for modulating autophagy. We also summarize novel compounds that have been discovered from high-throughput screening, which can either inhibit or promote autophagy.