Selective autophagy and cancer

Abstract

In normal cells, autophagy prevents tumorigenesis through selective cleanup of damaged organelles and certain specific proteins such as p62. In contrast, autophagy provides tumor cells, which require enormous amounts of nutrients, with amino acids, fatty acids, and glucose. Therefore, autophagy represents something of a double-edged sword in cancer: it functions as a tumor suppressor, but can also satisfy metabolic demands once tumors are established. In this chapter, we review the tumor-suppressive and oncogenic effects of autophagy which have been characterized using several approaches including transgenic mice and introduce the involvement of selective autophagy. ©