Arif Amin, Khawar Muhammad Babar, Mehmood Rabia, Abbasi Muddasir Hassan, Sheikh Nadeem
Institute of Zoology, University of the Punjab, Lahore 54000, Pakistan.
Department of Zoology, University of Narowal, Narowal 51750, Pakistan.
Asian Biomed (Res Rev News). 2022 Jun 30;16(3):111-120. doi: 10.2478/abm-2022-0014. eCollection 2022 Jun.
Autophagy is an evolutionary conserved catabolic process that plays physiological and pathological roles in a cell. Its effect on cellular metabolism, the proteome, and the number and quality of organelles, diversely holds the potential to alter cellular functions. It acts paradoxically in cancer as a tumor inhibitor as well as a tumor promoter. In the early stage of tumorigenesis, it prevents tumor initiation by the so-called "quality control mechanism" and suppresses cancer progression. For late-staged tumors that are exposed to stress, it acts as a vibrant process of degradation and recycling that promotes cancer by facilitating metastasis. Despite this dichotomy, the crucial role of autophagy is evident in cancer, and associated with mammalian targets of rapamycin (mTOR), p53, and Ras-derived major cancer networks. Irrespective of the controversy regarding autophagic manipulation, promotion and suppression of autophagy act as potential therapeutic targets in cancer treatment and may provide various anticancer therapies.
自噬是一种进化上保守的分解代谢过程，在细胞中发挥生理和病理作用。它对细胞代谢、蛋白质组以及细胞器的数量和质量产生影响，多种方式都有可能改变细胞功能。自噬在癌症中具有矛盾的作用，既是肿瘤抑制因子，也是肿瘤促进因子。在肿瘤发生的早期阶段，它通过所谓的“质量控制机制”防止肿瘤起始，并抑制癌症进展。对于处于应激状态的晚期肿瘤，它作为一个活跃的降解和循环过程，通过促进转移来促进癌症。尽管存在这种二分法，但自噬在癌症中的关键作用是明显的，并且与雷帕霉素哺乳动物靶点（mTOR）、p53以及Ras衍生的主要癌症网络相关。无论关于自噬调控存在何种争议，促进和抑制自噬都可作为癌症治疗中的潜在治疗靶点，并可能提供多种抗癌疗法。
