Aberrant epigenetic alterations play a decisive role in cancer initiation and propagation via the regulation of key tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes or by modulation of essential signaling pathways. Autophagy is a highly regulated mechanism required for the recycling and degradation of surplus and damaged cytoplasmic constituents in a lysosome dependent manner. In cancer, autophagy has a divergent role. For instance, autophagy elicits tumor promoting functions by facilitating metabolic adaption and plasticity in cancer stem cells (CSCs) and cancer cells. Moreover, autophagy exerts pro-survival mechanisms to these cancerous cells by influencing survival, dormancy, immunosurveillance, invasion, metastasis, and resistance to anti-cancer therapies. In addition, recent studies have demonstrated that various tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes involved in autophagy, are tightly regulated via different epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNAs. The impact of epigenetic regulation of autophagy in cancer cells and CSCs is not well-understood. Therefore, uncovering the complex mechanism of epigenetic regulation of autophagy provides an opportunity to improve and discover novel cancer therapeutics. Subsequently, this would aid in improving clinical outcome for cancer patients. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the existing knowledge available on epigenetic regulation of autophagy and its importance in the maintenance and homeostasis of CSCs and cancer cells.

中文翻译：

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自噬的表观遗传调控：癌细胞和癌症干细胞的关键修饰。

异常的表遗传学改变在癌症发生和传播了决定性的作用通过关键肿瘤抑制基因和癌基因的调节或通过基本信号通路的调节。自噬是一种高度调节的机制，以依赖溶酶体的方式回收和降解多余和受损的细胞质成分。在癌症中，自噬具有不同的作用。例如，自噬通过促进癌症干细胞 (CSC) 和癌细胞的代谢适应和可塑性来引发肿瘤促进功能。此外，自噬通过影响存活、休眠、免疫监视、侵袭、转移和对抗癌疗法的抵抗力，对这些癌细胞发挥促存活机制。此外，最近的研究表明，参与自噬的各种肿瘤抑制基因和癌基因，通过不同的表观遗传修饰，例如 DNA 甲基化、组蛋白修饰和非编码 RNA。自噬在癌细胞和 CSC 中的表观遗传调控的影响尚不清楚。因此，揭示自噬表观遗传调控的复杂机制为改进和发现新的癌症治疗方法提供了机会。随后，这将有助于改善癌症患者的临床结果。在这篇综述中，我们全面概述了关于自噬的表观遗传调控及其在 CSC 和癌细胞维持和稳态中的重要性的现有知识。