Autophagy as a target for anticancer therapy and its modulation by phytochemicals

Autophagy is a catabolic process and has an important homeostatic role, mediating the removal of dysfunctional or superfluous proteins and organelles. Dysfunction of autophagy is involved in various physiologic and pathologic conditions, such as developmental cell death, clearance of pathogens, aging process, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancers. Cancer cells which are inherently vulnerable to metabolic stress and also defective in apoptosis are more dependent on autophagy for cell survival than normal cells. Autophagy might have a dual but conflicting role in carcinogenesis, tumor-suppressing and tumor-promoting role. The roles of autophagy in specific type cancers in vivo, however, have not been determined clearly. In this review, we discussed the role of autophagy especially in ovarian cancer cells in relation to cancer cell metabolism and its modulation by natural compounds.