Research Advances of the Autophagy-Regulated Radiosensitivity

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved process of cell self-catabolism that provides a minimum level of energy for cellular homeostasis during metabolic stress. In radiotherapy (RT), it has been explicitly explained that autophagy plays a dual role in tumour control by tuning cellular radiosensitivity. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains a conundrum. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to gain insight into the molecular mechanisms elaborating the autophagy-mediated radiosensitivity and craft refined RT strategies for different tumours. Distinguishing it from previous reviews in the field, here we discuss the mechanisms of autophagy, especially its pro-survival and growth-suppressing mechanisms via regulation of radiosensitivity. We further outline some frontier RT adjuvant therapies targeting autophagy, in an endeavour to shed some light on the autophagy-mediated pathways to harness radiosensitivity.