Autophagy: a lysosomal degradation process for cellular homeostasis and its relationship with oral squamous cell carcinoma

ABSTRACT

Autophagy is an evolutionarily well-conserved cellular homeostasis program that responds to various cellular stresses and degrades unnecessary or harmful intracellular materials in lysosomes. Accumulating evidence has shown that autophagy dysfunction often results in various human pathophysiological conditions, including metabolic disorders, cancers, and neurodegenerative diseases. The discovery of an autophagy machinery protein network has revealed underlying molecular mechanisms of autophagy, and advances in the understanding of its regulatory mechanism have provided novel therapeutic targets for treating human diseases. Recently, reports have emerged on the involvement of autophagy in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Although the role of autophagy in cancer therapy is controversial, the beneficial use of the induction of autophagic cell death in OSCC has drawn significant attention.In this review, the types of autophagy, mechanism of autophagosome biogenesis, and modulating molecules and therapeutic candidates affecting the induction of autophagic cell death in OSCC are briefly described.