Autophagy and Therapy Resistance in Cancers

Dear Colleagues,

Macroautophagy (or autophagy) is a highly evolutionarily conserved process that carries important homeostatic functions in response to various stressful stimuli. While its roles in drug resistance in cancers are far from clear, there is accumulating evidence that autophagy promotes chemoresistance in many cancer cell types and experimental models. Additionally, autophagy supports the survival of hypoxic cells, which further limits the effectiveness of chemo- and/or radiotherapy. The use of autophagy inhibitors such as chloroquine and gene silencing of specific autophagy-related genes have been shown to sensitize cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents and radiation. There are over 30 active clinical trials based on the premise that the inhibition of autophagy can increase the efficacy of cancer treatments. One of the focuses of this issue is to further our understanding of the molecular basis underlying autophagy-related therapy resistance and to explore new ways that synergize with this process to kill cancer cells more efficiently.  Studies of the interplay between the autophagy pathway and the other key cellular processes can probably shed light into how autophagy can often exert dual roles in different contexts. As recent studies have revealed the link between autophagy and stemness, it will be of interest to examine how autophagy may contribute to the high level of chemoresistance in cancer stem-like cells.

Prof. Dr. Raymond Lai
Dr. Kasper M. Rouschop
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• autophagy
• chemotherapy
• radiotherapy
• hypoxia
• senescence
• cancer stem cells
• tumor microenvironment