Targeting autophagy: The Achilles’ heel of cancer

In recent years, tremendous progress has been made toward unveiling the mechanism of autophagy and its exploitation by many different cancer types. This year the American Association for the Advancement of Science held a one day Symposium on Autophagy: An Emerging Therapeutic Target in Human Disease in Vancouver, British Columbia and brought together experts in cell biology, drug discovery, and clinical translation to share their research findings and prospects. Currently, autophagy is being investigated on several fronts, from modulation of gene expression to in vivo studies, and more recently clinical trials in cancer. Key topics of discussion were determining which stage of autophagy would be the ideal target for inhibition to produce the highest impact, and which cancers or cancer subtypes would be the most sensitive to autophagy inhibitors; the answers to these questions may be a turning point in cancer therapy research.