Research Progress on Autophagy As a Molecular Target for Tumor Treatment

Autophagy is an highly evolutionarily conserved catabolic mechanism, by which eukaryotic cells deliver cellular materials to lysosomes for degradation, leading to the breakdown and eventual turnover of the resulting macromolecules. Thus, autophagy provides the cells with a sustainable source of biomolecules and energy for the maintenance of homeostasis under stressful conditions such as tumor microenvironment. Recent progress has demonstrated that the disorder of autophagy is closely related to the formation and development of some malig-nant tumors. Here, molecular mechanism and regulation in tumor of autophagy are reviewed. Finally, the data from published autophagy research in tumor is discussed.