Definition
Autophagy is the intracellular uptake of cytoplasm (proteins, nucleic acids, small molecules, whole organelles, etc.) into the lysosome and its subsequent degradation. Autophagy is a constitutive as well as a stress-inducible process responsible for the degradation of the majority of cellular proteins.
Characteristics
The lysosomal uptake and degradation of proteins by autophagy can be found in virtually all eukaryotic cells. Autophagy is a homeostatic catabolic process by which long-lived cytosolic proteins and complexes (like ribosomes) are degraded and recycled. Unlike the ubiquitin-proteosome system of degradation, autophagy is able to degrade large protein aggregates and is the only pathway able to degrade whole organelles. Autophagy is regarded to be a largely nonselective bulk process, but it also exhibits selectivity during the biogenesis of the lysosome (import of lysosomal...
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References
Bhutia SK et al (2013) Autophagy: Cancer’s Friend or Foe? Advances in Cancer Research 118:61–95
Chen N, Karantza V (2011) Autophagy as a therapeutic target in cancer. Cancer Biol Ther 11:157–168
Jiang X et al (2015) Autophagy in cellular metabolism and cancer. J Clin Invest 25(1):47–54
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See Also
(2012) AKT. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 115. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_163
(2012) AMPK. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 160. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_244
(2012) Autophagic Body. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 317. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_484
(2012) Autophagosome. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 317. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_486
(2012) Beclin 1. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 380. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_576
(2012) Chaperone. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 754. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_1046
(2012) Lysosome. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2128. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3472
(2012) Microautophagy. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2292. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3711
(2012) Peroxisome. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2820. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_4472
(2012) Proto-Oncogenes. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp 3107–3108. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_6656
(2012) Rheb. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 3302. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5096
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Schalk, A., Thoms, S. (2014). Autophagy. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_487-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_487-3
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