The roles of BECN1 and autophagy in cancer are context dependent

Abstract

Malignant tissue contains a rare population of multi-potent cells known as cancer stem-like cells (CSCs). Autophagy is an important mechanism in cancer cell survival and tumor growth; it can both suppress malignant transformation and promote the growth of established cancers. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the tumor-promoting and tumor-suppressing functions of autophagy in CSCs are not understood. Our work demonstrates that a prosurvival autophagic pathway is critical for breast CSC maintenance. Notably, we provide new evidence for the existence of two separate, contextdependent, autophagic programs that are regulated in opposite ways by BECN1. © 2012 Landes Bioscience.