In wild‐type cells, autophagy represents a tumour‐suppressor mechanism, and dysfunction of the autophagy machinery increases genomic instability, DNA damage, oxidative stress and stem/progenitor expansion, which are events associated with cancer onset. Autophagy occurs at a basal level in all cells depending on cell type and cellular microenvironment. However, the role of autophagy in cancer is diverse and can promote different outcomes even in a single tumour. For example, in hypoxic tumour regions, autophagy emerges as a protective mechanism and allows cancer cell survival. By contrast, in cancer cells surrounding the tumour mass, the induction of autophagy by radio‐ or chemotherapy promotes cell death and significantly reduces the tumour mass. Importantly, inhibition of autophagy compromises tumorigenesis by mechanisms that are not entirely understood. The aim of this review is to explain the apparently contradictory role of autophagy as a mechanism that both promotes and inhibits tumorigenesis using different models. The induction/inhibition of autophagy as a mechanism for cancer treatment is also discussed.

中文翻译：

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自噬和肿瘤发生之间的相互作用：利用自噬作为抗癌治疗的手段

在野生型细胞中，自噬代表了一种肿瘤抑制机制，自噬机制的功能障碍会增加基因组的不稳定性、DNA 损伤、氧化应激和干/祖细胞扩增，这些都是与癌症发病相关的事件。根据细胞类型和细胞微环境，自噬发生在所有细胞的基础水平。然而，自噬在癌症中的作用是多种多样的，即使在单个肿瘤中也可以促进不同的结果。例如，在缺氧肿瘤区域，自噬作为一种保护机制出现并允许癌细胞存活。相比之下，在肿瘤块周围的癌细胞中，通过放疗或化疗诱导自噬促进细胞死亡并显着减少肿瘤块。重要的，自噬的抑制通过尚未完全了解的机制损害肿瘤发生。本综述的目的是解释自噬作为一种使用不同模型促进和抑制肿瘤发生的机制的明显矛盾的作用。还讨论了作为癌症治疗机制的自噬的诱导/抑制。