Influence of autophagy on the efficacy of radiotherapy.
Autophagy is an important catabolic process in which cells digest and recycle their own cytoplasmic contents for maintaining cellular homeostasis. Interestingly, autophagy could play both pro-death and pro-survival roles in influencing the development of cancer via various signal pathways. As radiotherapy is one of the main treatment modalities for cancer, we reviewed the effect of autophagy modulations on radiosensitivity and radiotherapy efficacy in various cancer types. The future development of autophagy modifications for improving radiotherapy efficacy and cancer prognosis will also be discussed.
Department of Health Technology and Informatics, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
Shing Yau
SY
Tam
Department of Health Technology and Informatics, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
Vincent Wing Cheung
VW
Wu
Department of Health Technology and Informatics, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China. hthelen@polyu.edu.hk.
Helen Ka Wai
HK
Law
D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy / Q000528:radiation effects*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011836:Radiation Tolerance / Q000502:physiology*
Autophagy; Cancer Cell lines; Radiosensitivity; Radiotherapy; Radiotherapy efficacy; Signalling pathway