自噬与肿瘤的发生和治疗研究进展

Advancement in the study of relations of autophagy,carcinogenesis and cancer therapy

自噬作用是一种细胞自我降解的过程,以清除受损或多余的蛋白质和细胞器。当细胞代谢能量不足时,细胞依靠自噬作用实现细胞内成份的循环利用,从而维持自我稳态和生存。近期的研究发现,自噬作用在肿瘤的形成中亦起着重要作用。具有凋亡缺陷的肿瘤细胞可以凭借自噬作用减少坏死和炎症反应,以减轻代谢压力下的基因损伤,维持长久生存。但另一方面,自噬作用的缺陷与肿瘤的增长亦相关。对于自噬作用的研究进一步揭示了肿瘤发生、发展的潜在机制,也为肿瘤的治疗和预防提供了新的思路。

Autophagy is a cellular degradation pathway in which damaged or superfluous proteins and organelles are cleared. Autophagy can also maintain homeostasis and viability of cells under metabolic stress by the recycling of these intracellular constituents. As to tumor cell with defect in apoptosis, autophagy limits its necrosis and inflammation, reduces the damage of genome and prolongs its survival under metabolic stress. Paradoxically, autophagy defect is also associated with carcinogenesis according to recent evidence. The research of autophagy has revealed the effect of autophagy on carcinogenesis and provides us a promising avenue for cancer therapy and prevention.