ABSTRACT
Autophagy is a critical metabolic process that supports homeostasis at a basal level and is dynamically regulated in response to various physiological and pathological processes. Autophagy has some etiologic implications that support certain pathological processes due to alterations in the lysosomal-degradative pathway. Some of the conditions related to autophagy play key roles in highly relevant human diseases, e.g., cardiovascular diseases (15.5%), malignant and other neoplasms (9.4%), and neurodegenerative conditions (3.7%). Despite advances in the discovery of new strategies to treat these age-related diseases, autophagy has emerged as a therapeutic option after preclinical and clinical studies. Here, we discuss the pitfalls and success in regulating autophagy initiation and its lysosome-dependent pathway to restore its homeostatic role and mediate therapeutic effects for cancer, neurodegenerative, and cardiac diseases. The main challenge for the development of autophagy regulators for clinical application is the lack of specificity of the repurposed drugs, due to the low pharmacological uniqueness of their target, including those that target the PI3K/AKT/mTOR and AMPK pathway. Then, future efforts must be conducted to deal with this scenery, including the disclosure of key components in the autophagy machinery that may intervene in its therapeutic regulation. Among all efforts, those focusing on the development of novel allosteric inhibitors against autophagy inducers, as well as those targeting autolysosomal function, and their integration into therapeutic regimens should remain a priority for the field.
ABSTRACT
A autofagia é uma via metabólica essencial para a manutenção da homeostase celular, e pode desempenhar diferentes papéis dentro do contexto fisiológico e patológico. Por este motivo tem sido foco de muitos estudos por ser um alvo terapêutico promissor, principalmente contra o câncer, onde atua de maneira ambígua, podendo suprimir ou promover o tumor de acordo com o contexto. Compreender a base molecular desse mecanismo é de interesse emergente para se alcançar terapias eficazes utilizando a modulação da autofagia. Neste trabalho, realizou-se uma revisão da literatura para abordar o papel da autofagia na biologia do câncer e como ela pode ser usada como estratégia terapêutica antitumoral através de sua ativação ou inibição no tratamento de vários tipos e estágios do câncer.
Autophagy is an essential metabolic pathway for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and may play different roles within the physiological and pathological context. For this reason, it has been the focus of many studies because it is a promising therapeutic target, especially against cancer, in which plays a duo role, and it may suppress or promote the tumor according to the context. Understanding the molecular basis of this mechanism is an emerging interest to provide effective therapies using autophagy modulation. In this paper, we performed a literature review to address the role of autophagy in cancer biology and how it can be used as an antitumoral therapeutic strategy through its activation or inhibition to treat various types and stages of cancer.
