ContentslistsavailableatScienceDirectSeminarsinCancerBiologyjournalhomepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/semcancerMonitoringautophagyincancer:FrombenchtobedsideMaeveLonga,ThomasG.McWilliamsa,b,⁎aTranslationalStemCellBiology&MetabolismProgram,ResearchProgramsUnitbDepartmentofAnatomy,FacultyofMedicine,BiomedicumHelsinki,UniversityofHelsinki,Haartmaninkatu8,Helsinki,00290-FIARTICLEINFOKeywords:AutophagyAutophagosomeCancerMetabolismMitochondriaMitophagymito-QCTumourOrganellesABSTRACTAutophagyreferstoanessentialmechanismthatevolvedtosustaineukaryotichomeostasisandmetabolismduringinstancesofnutrientdeprivation.Duringautophagy,intracellularcargoisencapsulatedanddeliveredtothelysosomeforelimination.Lossofbasalautophagyinvivonegativelyimpactscellularproteostasis,metabo-lismandtissueintegrity.Accordingly,manydrugdevelopmentstrategiesarefocusedonmodulatingautophagiccapacityinvariouspathophysiologicalstates,fromcancertoneurodegenerativedisease.Theroleofautophagyincancerisparticularlycomplicated,aseitheraugmentingorattenuatingthisprocesscanhavevariableout-comesoncellularsurvival,proliferationandtransformation.Thiscomplexityiscompoundedbytheemergenceofseveralselectiveautophagypathways,whichacttoeliminatedamagedorsuperfluouscellularcomponentsinatargetedfashion.Theadventofsensitivetoolstomonitorautophagypathwaysinvivoholdspromisetoclarifytheirimportanceincancerpathophysiology.Inthisreview,weprovideanoverviewofautophagyincancerbiologyandoutlinehowthedevelopmentoftoolstostudyautophagyinvivocouldenhanceourunderstandingofitsfunctionfortranslationalbenefit.1.IntroductionAutophagyisanessentialcatabolicmechanismthatevolvedtosustaineukaryotichomeostasisduringinstancesofnutrientdepriva-tion.ThetermautophagyistranslatedfromtheGreekmeaning"toeatoneself"andinterestingly,wasinusagebeforeitsincorporationintothescientificvernacularbyChristianDeDuve[1].Generalorbulkautop-hagyisanon-selectiveprocess(hereinreferredtoasmacroautophagy)[2].Macroautophagyisacomplex,multistepprocessinvolving(1)thesensinga...
