Regulation of Autophagic Flux for Anti-cancer Therapy

Dear Colleagues,

Autophagy is a naturally occurring cellular catastrophic process induced by various cellular stresses. Autophagy acts as a pro-survival mechanism and provides an alternative energy source. Autophagy has also been linked to programmed cell death. Cancer cells exposed to anti-cancer drugs employ autophagy for survival. Autophagy is involved in immune evasion of cancer cells by immune checkpoint molecules such as PD-L1 and PD1. Immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy has shown clinical benefits in treating cancers. Anti-cancer drug resistance is closely related with enhanced angiogenic, tumorigenic, and metastatic potential. Deregulation of autophagy occurs in cancers, inflammatory diseases, and metabolic diseases. Autophagic flux regulates the responses to anti-cancer drugs. A signaling pathway such as EGFR/RAS/MAPK is involved in the induction of autophagy. A combination of drugs targeting cancer signaling pathways and autophagy has shown some clinical benefits in treating cancers. Autophagic flux thus can serve as a target for the development of therapy against cancers and other various inflammatory diseases.

In this Special Issue of Cells, I invite you to contribute, either in the form of original research articles, reviews, or shorter perspective articles on all aspects related to the theme of regulation of autophagic flux for anti-cancer therapy. Expert articles describing mechanistic, functional, cellular, biochemical, or general aspects of the theme are highly welcome. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to the following:

• Role of autophagy in anti-cancer drug resistance
• Autophagic flux in cancer progression
• Autophagic flux and immune checkpoint
• Autophagic flux in angiogenesis
• Autophagy in cell death
• Oxidative stress and autophagic flux
• Autophagic flux in metabolic diseases
• Effect of autophagic flux on mitochondria function
• Signaling pathways in autophagy
• Epigenetic regulation of autophagic flux
• Regulation of autophagic flux by micro RNAs
• Drugs targeting autophagic flux

Prof. Dooil Jeoung
Guest Editor

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• autophagic flux 
• anti-cancer drug resistance 
• signaling pathways 
• drugs targeting autophagic flux 
• cancers 
• inflammatory diseases 
• metabolic diseases