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Cancer and Metastasis Reviews
Published in: Cancer and Metastasis Reviews 4/2018

01-12-2018 | NON-THEMATIC REVIEW

Pro-survival autophagy and cancer cell resistance to therapy

Authors: Chandan Kanta Das, Mahitosh Mandal, Donat Kögel

Published in: Cancer and Metastasis Reviews | Issue 4/2018

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Abstract

Resistance to therapy is one of the prime causes for treatment failure in cancer and recurrent disease. In recent years, autophagy has emerged as an important cell survival mechanism in response to different stress conditions that are associated with cancer treatment and aging. Autophagy is an evolutionary conserved catabolic process through which damaged cellular contents are degraded after uptake into autophagosomes that subsequently fuse with lysosomes for cargo degradation, thereby alleviating stress. In addition, autophagy serves to maintain cellular homeostasis by enriching nutrient pools. Although autophagy can act as a double-edged sword at the interface of cell survival and cell death, increasing evidence suggest that in the context of cancer therapy-induced stress responses, it predominantly functions as a cell survival mechanism. Here, we provide an up-to-date overview on our current knowledge of the role of pro-survival autophagy in cancer therapy at the preclinical and clinical stages and delineate the molecular mechanisms of autophagy regulation in response to therapy-related stress conditions. A better understanding of the interplay of cancer therapy and autophagy may allow to unveil new targets and avenues for an improved treatment of therapy-resistant tumors in the foreseeable future.
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Metadata
Title
Pro-survival autophagy and cancer cell resistance to therapy
Authors
Chandan Kanta Das
Mahitosh Mandal
Donat Kögel
Publication date
01-12-2018
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Cancer and Metastasis Reviews / Issue 4/2018
Print ISSN: 0167-7659
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7233
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10555-018-9727-z

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