This book covers the latest advances in the field of autophagy and cancer from the basics of the molecular machinery for autophagy induction and regulation up to current areas of interest, including modulation of autophagy and drug discovery for cancer prevention and treatment. The reader will be initially introduced to the historical context of autophagy, followed by a summary of the key players in autophagy, a discussion on the origin of autophagosomes, and an overview of signal transduction regulation of autophagy. The next chapters deal with the complex relationship between autophagy and tumorigenesis through in-depth discussions of how autophagy influences cell survival, apoptosis, inflammation, immunity, tumor microenvironment, metabolic stress, DNA damage, and genomic instability. The remaining chapters discuss how autophagy affects cancer cell response to therapy and how to best modulate autophagy for therapeutic benefit - what to target and how to target. We hope that this monograph will be an invaluable reference source for professionals, students, postdoctoral fellows, and senior scientists working in the fields of autophagy and cancer.

Autorentext
Dr. Hong-Gang Wang is the Lois High Berstler Professor, Department of Pharmacology at Penn State College of Medicine. Dr. Wang is a leading research scientist in the area of autophagy and cancer.

Zusammenfassung
With the explosion of information on autophagy in cancer, this is an opportune time to speed the efforts to translate our current knowledge about autophagy regulation into better understanding of its role in cancer. This book will cover the latest advances in this area from the basics, such as the molecular machinery for autophagy induction and regulation, up to the current areas of interest such as modulation of autophagy and drug discovery for cancer prevention and treatment. The text will include an explanation on how autophagy can function in both oncogenesis and tumor suppression and a description of its function in tumor development and tumor suppression through its roles in cell survival, cell death, cell growth as well as its influences on inflammation, immunity, DNA damage, oxidative stress, tumor microenvironment, etc. The remaining chapters will cover topics on autophagy and cancer therapy. These pages will serve as a description on how the pro-survival function of autophagy may help cancer cells resist chemotherapy and radiation treatment as well as how the pro-death functions of autophagy may enhance cell death in response to cancer therapy, and how to target autophagy for cancer prevention and therapy what to target and how to target it.

Inhalt
Preface.- Historical Overview of Autophagy.- The Core Molecular Machinery of Autophagosome Formation.- The origin of autophagosomes: The beginning of an end.- Signal Transduction Regulation of Autophagy.- Role of Autophagy in Tumorigenesis.- Selective autophagy and cancer.- Oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in autophagy.- Autophagy and Immunity.- Autophagy and the Tumor Microenvironment.- Autophagy and Cancer Therapy.- The Crosstalk between Apoptosis & Autophagy.- Autophagy and Cancer Drug Discovery.- Index.