Q&A: targeting autophagy in cancer—a new therapeutic?

Macroautophagy (autophagy hereafter) captures and degrades intracellular proteins and organelles in lysosomes as a quality control mechanism and recycles their components to sustain survival in starvation. Cellular self-cannibalization by autophagy is thought to have a context-dependent role in cancer. Autophagy inactivation is destructive to normal tissues and can promote cancer initiation while some established cancers upregulate autophagy that promotes their survival. We are only beginning to understand the role of autophagy in cancer and the precise mechanisms behind tumour suppression and promotion and the molecular and physiological contexts involved.