Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Exploring the Regulation of Lipid Droplet Catabolism through Lipophagy
Published on: January 31, 2025
The paradox of autophagy and its implication in cancer etiology and therapy
Avital Eisenberg-Lerner1, Adi Kimchi
1Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Abstract:
Autophagy is a cellular self-catabolic process in which cytoplasmic constituents are sequestered in double membrane vesicles that fuse with lysosomes where they are degraded. As this catabolic activity generates energy, autophagy is often induced under nutrient limiting conditions providing a mechanism to maintain cell viability and may be exploited by cancer cells for survival under metabolic stress. However, progressive autophagy can be cytotoxic and autophagy can under certain settings substitute for apoptosis in induction of cell death. Moreover, loss of autophagy is correlated with tumorigenesis and several inducers of autophagy are tumor-suppressor genes. Thus, the relation of autophagy to cancer development is complex and depends on the genetic composition of the cell as well as on the extra-cellular stresses a cell is exposed to. In this review we describe the intricate nature of autophagy and its regulators, particularly those that have been linked to cancer. We discuss the multifaceted relation of autophagy to tumorigenesis and highlight studies supporting a role for autophagy in both tumor-suppression and tumor-progression. Finally, various autophagy-targeting therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment are presented.
Related Concept Videos
Autophagy
An autophagic pathway consists of a series of signaling events activated in response to diverse stress and physiological conditions such as food deprivation,...
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...
Delivery Pathways to the Lysosome
Endocytosis
In endocytosis, the cell membrane takes up macromolecules and particles from the surrounding medium. Clathrin-mediated...
Autophagic Cell Death
Autophagy and Apoptosis
Autophagy can activate apoptosis. In normal conditions, the autophagy activating protein Beclin-1 and pro-apoptotic...
Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...

