Department of Pathology and Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California San Francisco, CA, United States.
Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2010 Apr;22(2):241-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ceb.2009.10.008. Epub 2009 Nov 27.
In order to metastasize, tumor cells must adapt to untoward, stressful microenvironments as they disseminate into the systemic circulation and colonize distant organ sites. Autophagy, a tightly regulated lysosomal self-digestion process that is upregulated during cellular stress, has been demonstrated to suppress primary tumor formation, but how autophagy influences metastasis remains unknown. Autophagy may inhibit metastasis by promoting antitumor inflammatory responses or by restricting the expansion of dormant tumor cells into macrometastases. Conversely, self-eating may promote metastasis by enhancing tumor cell fitness in response to environmental stresses, such as anoikis, during metastatic progression. Because autophagy is titratable, it may serve both prometastatic and antimetastatic functions depending on the contextual demands placed on tumor cells throughout the metastatic process.
为了转移，肿瘤细胞必须适应不利的、有压力的微环境，因为它们在全身循环中扩散并在远处的器官部位定植。自噬是一种受到严格调控的溶酶体自我消化过程，在细胞应激时上调，已被证明可抑制原发性肿瘤的形成，但自噬如何影响转移仍不清楚。自噬可能通过促进抗肿瘤炎症反应，或通过限制休眠肿瘤细胞扩张为大转移来抑制转移。相反，自噬可能通过增强肿瘤细胞对环境压力（如在转移进展过程中的失巢凋亡）的适应性，从而促进转移。因为自噬是可滴定的，它可能根据肿瘤细胞在整个转移过程中所面临的上下文需求，发挥促进转移和抑制转移的双重功能。
