Vol43 No.6: 425-432

Autophagy process is associated with anti-neoplastic function

Chong Wang^1†, Yachen Wang^1†, Michael A. McNutt², and Wei-Guo Zhu^1*

(1 Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Ministry of Education, Health Science Center, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China; 2 Department of Pathology, Health Science Center, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China)

Abstract
����Autophagy is a highly conserved process of cellular degradation, which is present in yeast, plants, and mammals. Under normal physiological conditions, autophagy acts to maintain cellular homeostasis and regulate the turnover of organelles. In response to cellular stresses, autophagy prevents the accumulation of impaired proteins and organelles, which serves to inhibit carcinogenesis. On this basis, it is widely accepted that most tumor suppressors, such as beclin 1 associated proteins, forkhead box class O (FoxO) family proteins, multiple mammalian target of Rapamycin (mTOR) inactivators, and nuclear p53 play a role in inducing autophagy. Here, we focus on how the process of autophagy is associated with anti-neoplastic function.

Received: 2011-1-13����Accepted: 2011-3-10

†These authors contributed equally to this work.

*Corresponding author . Tel: +86-10-82802235; Fax: +86-10-82805079; E-mail: [email protected]

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