Autophagy awakens—the myriad roles of autophagy in head and neck cancer development and therapeutic response

Abstract

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved cell survival mechanism that degrades damaged proteins and organelles to generate cellular energy during times of stress.Recycling of these cellular components occurs in a series of sequential steps with multiple regulatory points. Mechanistic dysfunction can lead to a variety of human diseases and cancers due to the complexity of autophagy and its ability to regulate vital cellular functions. The role that autophagy plays in both the development and treatment of cancer is highly complex, especially given the fact that most cancer therapies modulate autophagy. This review aims to discuss the balance of autophagy in the development, progression, and treatment of head and neck cancer, as well as highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of what is still unknown about autophagy.

Inhibition of adenoid cystic carcinoma cell proliferation and migration through autophagy inhibition via GLUT1 knockdown

“…Recent studies have demonstrated that autophagy is involved in tumorigenesis, tumor development, and chemoradiotherapy resistance [19,[24][25][26]. Investigations of autophagy in patients with ACC have revealed that autophagy-related genes are involved in ACC tumorigenesis and can serve as prognostic factors [6,7,[27][28][29][30][31].…”