The Role of Apoptosis and Autophagy in Cancer

Dear Colleagues,

Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is the oldest known pathway of cell death. Previously, it was understood to involve morphological changes in cells that lead to death. Over the last three decades, extensive research has advanced our understanding of this pathway. Apoptosis in cancer cells mostly follows intrinsic or mitochondrial pathways in response to chemotherapeutic drugs. On the other hand, cytokines produced by immune cells induce an extrinsic pathway of cell death. Autophagy is a highly orchestrated lysosome-dependent process in cells that eliminates damaged organelles or proteins to maintain cellular homeostasis and survival. Numerous studies recognize autophagy as a double-edged sword in cancer. Cellular stress can activate autophagy, attenuate cellular processes, and lead to senescence. Autophagy can also help cancer cells to escape metabolic stress, promoting tumorigenesis. Recent advancements suggest that cancer cells activate autophagy in response to chemotherapeutic drugs as a pivotal mechanism of drug resistance. Recent research also suggests that using preclinical drugs to inhibit autophagy could be an attractive therapeutic opportunity for advanced-stage cancers. Recently, apoptosis–autophagy crosstalk has gained significant attention in actively growing cancer. Therefore, the targeting of these two pathways is still a significant avenue of research.

This Special Issue will cover all aspects of autophagy and apoptosis in cancer, including (but not limited to) the following:

• Mechanisms of macroautophagy and mitophagy in cancer;
• Mechanisms of different types of cell death in cancer;
• Mechanisms of novel and FDA-approved drugs and immunotherapy in autophagy and apoptosis;
• Crosstalk between autophagy and apoptosis in cancer.  

Dr. Souren Paul
Guest Editor

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• apoptosis
• cell death
• tumor