How does autophagy treat cancer

The human body is composed of countless cells. These cells divide, metabolize, grow, or repair damage. These phenomena are all controlled by certain genes. When these genes are damaged, the abnormal proteins they produce will drive cells to proliferate and differentiate abnormally. They accumulate in the body to form "tumors." Tumors are divided into benign and malignant. Among them, malignant tumors are called cancers. Cancer cells can even destroy surrounding tissues and metastasize.

Autophagy is an important system that maintains a constant protein in the cell, which can eliminate abnormal proteins, thereby inhibiting the occurrence of tumors. However, studies have found that when cancer cells are formed, many growing and replicating cancer cells will initiate autophagy to resist the pressure of the surrounding environment, such as hypoxia, starvation or treatment with anti-cancer drugs. Recent studies have shown that during the process of cancer cells metastasis to other tissues, the highly activated autophagy can help cancer cells adapt to the environment of blood or other tissues. The detailed mechanism and the reasons for these phenomena have yet to be clarified.

Cancer treatment for autophagy has always been the goal of scientists' efforts. If it can enhance or inhibit autophagy, it may be helpful to fight cancer. Quinine, currently used clinically to treat malaria, is an inhibitor of autophagy. Combining quinine with commonly used chemotherapy and target drugs to inhibit the autophagy ability of cancer cells appears to be quite effective initially.