Effects of autophagy on radiosensitivity

Autophagy extensively exists in eukaryotes, which utilizes lysosomes to degrade the damaged organelles or proteins, maintain the stability of the intracellular environment and provide energy. It can also participate in the growth, proliferation and apoptosis of tumor cells through autophagy-related genes and signaling pathways. Radiotherapy is one of the main treatments for cancer, whereas tumor cells often have radiation resistance, which reduces the clinical efficacy. Previous studies have demonstrated that autophagy is associated with the radiosensitivity of tumor cells, but the conclusions are different. In this article, different effects of autophagy upon the radiosensitity of tumor cells were reviewed. Key words: Autophagy; Neoplasm/radiotherapy