The roles, mechanisms, and controversies of autophagy in mammalian biology.
Autophagy is a universally conserved metabolic program of catabolism that plays important roles in energy homeostasis and impacts both normal physiology and multiple disease processes, including cancer. Autophagy has been documented as a pro-survival mechanism used to maintain viability under starvation conditions; however, conflicting findings have also implicated autophagy in the control of cell death. Adding to the controversy, central mediators of autophagy have been implicated in both pro-survival and pro-death processes. This report highlights recent insights into our understanding of how autophagy is regulated and newly discovered physiological roles for autophagy in normal biology and disease.
Jones
Russell G
RG
Goodman Cancer Centre, Department of Physiology, McGill University 1160 Avenue Des Pins Ouest, Montreal, QC H3A 1A3 Canada. russell.jones@mcgill.ca