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Nature Reviews. Molecular Cell Biology Aug 2023Maintenance of protein homeostasis and organelle integrity and function is critical for cellular homeostasis and cell viability. Autophagy is the principal mechanism... (Review)
Review
Maintenance of protein homeostasis and organelle integrity and function is critical for cellular homeostasis and cell viability. Autophagy is the principal mechanism that mediates the delivery of various cellular cargoes to lysosomes for degradation and recycling. A myriad of studies demonstrate important protective roles for autophagy against disease. However, in cancer, seemingly opposing roles of autophagy are observed in the prevention of early tumour development versus the maintenance and metabolic adaptation of established and metastasizing tumours. Recent studies have addressed not only the tumour cell intrinsic functions of autophagy, but also the roles of autophagy in the tumour microenvironment and associated immune cells. In addition, various autophagy-related pathways have been described, which are distinct from classical autophagy, that utilize parts of the autophagic machinery and can potentially contribute to malignant disease. Growing evidence on how autophagy and related processes affect cancer development and progression has helped guide efforts to design anticancer treatments based on inhibition or promotion of autophagy. In this Review, we discuss and dissect these different functions of autophagy and autophagy-related processes during tumour development, maintenance and progression. We outline recent findings regarding the role of these processes in both the tumour cells and the tumour microenvironment and describe advances in therapy aimed at autophagy processes in cancer.
Topics: Humans; Neoplasms; Autophagy; Lysosomes; Tumor Microenvironment
PubMed: 36864290
DOI: 10.1038/s41580-023-00585-z -
The Journal of Pathology May 2010Autophagy is a self-degradative process that is important for balancing sources of energy at critical times in development and in response to nutrient stress. Autophagy... (Review)
Review
Autophagy is a self-degradative process that is important for balancing sources of energy at critical times in development and in response to nutrient stress. Autophagy also plays a housekeeping role in removing misfolded or aggregated proteins, clearing damaged organelles, such as mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and peroxisomes, as well as eliminating intracellular pathogens. Thus, autophagy is generally thought of as a survival mechanism, although its deregulation has been linked to non-apoptotic cell death. Autophagy can be either non-selective or selective in the removal of specific organelles, ribosomes and protein aggregates, although the mechanisms regulating aspects of selective autophagy are not fully worked out. In addition to elimination of intracellular aggregates and damaged organelles, autophagy promotes cellular senescence and cell surface antigen presentation, protects against genome instability and prevents necrosis, giving it a key role in preventing diseases such as cancer, neurodegeneration, cardiomyopathy, diabetes, liver disease, autoimmune diseases and infections. This review summarizes the most up-to-date findings on how autophagy is executed and regulated at the molecular level and how its disruption can lead to disease.
Topics: Animals; Apoptosis; Autophagy; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Humans; Mice; Neoplasms; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 20225336
DOI: 10.1002/path.2697 -
Antioxidants & Redox Signaling Jan 2014Autophagy is a highly conserved eukaryotic cellular recycling process. Through the degradation of cytoplasmic organelles, proteins, and macromolecules, and the recycling... (Review)
Review
SIGNIFICANCE
Autophagy is a highly conserved eukaryotic cellular recycling process. Through the degradation of cytoplasmic organelles, proteins, and macromolecules, and the recycling of the breakdown products, autophagy plays important roles in cell survival and maintenance. Accordingly, dysfunction of this process contributes to the pathologies of many human diseases.
RECENT ADVANCES
Extensive research is currently being done to better understand the process of autophagy. In this review, we describe current knowledge of the morphology, molecular mechanism, and regulation of mammalian autophagy.
CRITICAL ISSUES
At the mechanistic and regulatory levels, there are still many unanswered questions and points of confusion that have yet to be resolved.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Through further research, a more complete and accurate picture of the molecular mechanism and regulation of autophagy will not only strengthen our understanding of this significant cellular process, but will aid in the development of new treatments for human diseases in which autophagy is not functioning properly.
Topics: Animals; Autophagy; Cell Survival; Humans; Pathology
PubMed: 23725295
DOI: 10.1089/ars.2013.5371 -
Cell Nov 2011Autophagy is the major intracellular degradation system by which cytoplasmic materials are delivered to and degraded in the lysosome. However, the purpose of autophagy... (Review)
Review
Autophagy is the major intracellular degradation system by which cytoplasmic materials are delivered to and degraded in the lysosome. However, the purpose of autophagy is not the simple elimination of materials, but instead, autophagy serves as a dynamic recycling system that produces new building blocks and energy for cellular renovation and homeostasis. Here we provide a multidisciplinary review of our current understanding of autophagy's role in metabolic adaptation, intracellular quality control, and renovation during development and differentiation. We also explore how recent mouse models in combination with advances in human genetics are providing key insights into how the impairment or activation of autophagy contributes to pathogenesis of diverse diseases, from neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson disease to inflammatory disorders such as Crohn disease.
Topics: Animals; Autophagy; Disease Models, Animal; Humans; Mice; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Phagosomes; Plant Cells
PubMed: 22078875
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2011.10.026 -
Cell Jan 2019The lysosomal degradation pathway of autophagy plays a fundamental role in cellular, tissue, and organismal homeostasis and is mediated by evolutionarily conserved... (Review)
Review
The lysosomal degradation pathway of autophagy plays a fundamental role in cellular, tissue, and organismal homeostasis and is mediated by evolutionarily conserved autophagy-related (ATG) genes. Definitive etiological links exist between mutations in genes that control autophagy and human disease, especially neurodegenerative, inflammatory disorders and cancer. Autophagy selectively targets dysfunctional organelles, intracellular microbes, and pathogenic proteins, and deficiencies in these processes may lead to disease. Moreover, ATG genes have diverse physiologically important roles in other membrane-trafficking and signaling pathways. This Review discusses the biological functions of autophagy genes from the perspective of understanding-and potentially reversing-the pathophysiology of human disease and aging.
Topics: Animals; Autophagy; Autophagy-Related Proteins; Homeostasis; Humans; Lysosomes; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Proteins; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 30633901
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.09.048 -
The EMBO Journal Oct 2021Autophagy is a core molecular pathway for the preservation of cellular and organismal homeostasis. Pharmacological and genetic interventions impairing autophagy... (Review)
Review
Autophagy is a core molecular pathway for the preservation of cellular and organismal homeostasis. Pharmacological and genetic interventions impairing autophagy responses promote or aggravate disease in a plethora of experimental models. Consistently, mutations in autophagy-related processes cause severe human pathologies. Here, we review and discuss preclinical data linking autophagy dysfunction to the pathogenesis of major human disorders including cancer as well as cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, metabolic, pulmonary, renal, infectious, musculoskeletal, and ocular disorders.
Topics: Animals; Autophagy; Biomarkers; Disease Susceptibility; Gene Expression Regulation; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Homeostasis; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Humans; Organ Specificity; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 34459017
DOI: 10.15252/embj.2021108863 -
Cell Death and Differentiation Mar 2015Autophagy is a catabolic process aimed at recycling cellular components and damaged organelles in response to diverse conditions of stress, such as nutrient deprivation,... (Review)
Review
Autophagy is a catabolic process aimed at recycling cellular components and damaged organelles in response to diverse conditions of stress, such as nutrient deprivation, viral infection and genotoxic stress. A growing amount of evidence in recent years argues for oxidative stress acting as the converging point of these stimuli, with reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) being among the main intracellular signal transducers sustaining autophagy. This review aims at providing novel insight into the regulatory pathways of autophagy in response to glucose and amino acid deprivation, as well as their tight interconnection with metabolic networks and redox homeostasis. The role of oxidative and nitrosative stress in autophagy is also discussed in the light of its being harmful for both cellular biomolecules and signal mediator through reversible posttranslational modifications of thiol-containing proteins. The redox-independent relationship between autophagy and antioxidant response, occurring through the p62/Keap1/Nrf2 pathway, is also addressed in order to provide a wide perspective upon the interconnection between autophagy and oxidative stress. Herein, we also attempt to afford an overview of the complex crosstalk between autophagy and DNA damage response (DDR), focusing on the main pathways activated upon ROS and RNS overproduction. Along these lines, the direct and indirect role of autophagy in DDR is dissected in depth.
Topics: Animals; Autophagy; Homeostasis; Humans; Oxidative Stress; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 25257172
DOI: 10.1038/cdd.2014.150 -
Developmental Cell Apr 2021Beginning with the earliest studies of autophagy in cancer, there have been indications that autophagy can both promote and inhibit cancer growth and progression;... (Review)
Review
Beginning with the earliest studies of autophagy in cancer, there have been indications that autophagy can both promote and inhibit cancer growth and progression; autophagy regulation of organelle homeostasis is similarly complicated. In this review we discuss pro- and antitumor effects of organelle-targeted autophagy and how this contributes to several hallmarks of cancer, such as evading cell death, genomic instability, and altered metabolism. Typically, the removal of damaged or dysfunctional organelles prevents tumor development but can also aid in proliferation or drug resistance in established tumors. By better understanding how organelle-specific autophagy takes place and can be manipulated, it may be possible to go beyond the brute-force approach of trying to manipulate all autophagy in order to improve therapeutic targeting of this process in cancer.
Topics: Autophagy; Endoplasmic Reticulum; Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress; Homeostasis; Humans; Macroautophagy; Mitophagy; Neoplasms
PubMed: 33689692
DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2021.02.010 -
Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology Feb 2020Metabolic reprogramming in tumours is now recognized as a hallmark of cancer, participating both in tumour growth and cancer progression. Cancer cells develop global... (Review)
Review
Metabolic reprogramming in tumours is now recognized as a hallmark of cancer, participating both in tumour growth and cancer progression. Cancer cells develop global metabolic adaptations allowing them to survive in the low oxygen and nutrient tumour microenvironment. Among these metabolic adaptations, cancer cells use glycolysis but also mitochondrial oxidations to produce ATP and building blocks needed for their high proliferation rate. Another particular adaptation of cancer cell metabolism is the use of autophagy and specific forms of autophagy like mitophagy to recycle intracellular components in condition of metabolic stress or during anticancer treatments. The plasticity of cancer cell metabolism is a major limitation of anticancer treatments and could participate to therapy resistances. The aim of this review is to report recent advances in the understanding of the relationship between tumour metabolism and autophagy/mitophagy in order to propose new therapeutic strategies.
Topics: Animals; Autophagy; Cellular Reprogramming; Humans; Mitophagy; Neoplasms
PubMed: 31154012
DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2019.05.029 -
Cell Death & Disease Oct 2023Autophagy is the process by which cells degrade and recycle proteins and organelles to maintain intracellular homeostasis. Generally, autophagy plays a protective role... (Review)
Review
Autophagy is the process by which cells degrade and recycle proteins and organelles to maintain intracellular homeostasis. Generally, autophagy plays a protective role in cells, but disruption of autophagy mechanisms or excessive autophagic flux usually leads to cell death. Despite recent progress in the study of the regulation and underlying molecular mechanisms of autophagy, numerous questions remain to be answered. How does autophagy regulate cell death? What are the fine-tuned regulatory mechanisms underlying autophagy-dependent cell death (ADCD) and autophagy-mediated cell death (AMCD)? In this article, we highlight the different roles of autophagy in cell death and discuss six of the main autophagy-related cell death modalities, with a focus on the metabolic changes caused by excessive endoplasmic reticulum-phagy (ER-phagy)-induced cell death and the role of mitophagy in autophagy-mediated ferroptosis. Finally, we discuss autophagy enhancement in the treatment of diseases and offer a new perspective based on the use of autophagy for different functional conversions (including the conversion of autophagy and that of different autophagy-mediated cell death modalities) for the clinical treatment of tumors.
Topics: Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress; Autophagy; Endoplasmic Reticulum; Mitophagy; Cell Death
PubMed: 37794028
DOI: 10.1038/s41419-023-06154-8