Targeting the Autophagy Process in Breast Cancer Development and Treatment

Abstract

Autophagy is a homeostatic process that degrades long-lived or damaged proteins and organelles. By recycling intracellular constituents, it is buffering metabolic stress under starvation conditions. The autophagy role in cancer remains unclear and complicated as it appears to be involved in tumorigenesis, cancer development and treatment outcome in different ways. Autophagy can act as both tumor-promoting and tumor-suppressing agent depending on the stage of cancer progression. During the initiation of cancer, autophagy prevents cells from further DNA damage and genomic instability. It could also be a cell death mechanism in cancer cells with apoptotic defect. Autophagy can also promote tumor growth by facilitating oncogene- induced senescence or protecting tumors against necrosis and inflammation. Once the cancer is formed, autophagy can contribute to tumor progression (by allowing cells to survive in stressful conditions) and metastasis. There is evidence that breast cancer could also be controlled by autophagy. Regulation of this process, correlated proteins and active factors are currently under scientific study in the aspect of breast cancer effective therapeutic strategies.