Macroautophagy (Autophagy), an evolutionarily conserved cellular self-digesting process implicated in various physiological and pathological processes, is activated by different stimuli including oxidative stress. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in autophagy modulation through multiple signaling pathways and transcription regulators. Accumulating data support both a positive and negative role of ROS-modulated autophagy in cancer. As a tumor suppressive mechanism, autophagy induces autophagic cell death and maintains genome stability. Conversely, autophagy may promote cancer development by limiting metabolic stress and supplying high-energetic nutrients. Mitochondrial ROS (mitoROS), the main source of endogenous ROS, serve as essential signal transducers that mediate autophagy, while autophagy can also regulate mitochondrial ROS generation in turn. Here, we untangle the knot between mitochondrial ROS and autophagy, which may be of great significance to solve the conundrum of the inter-conversion between cytoprotective and cytotoxic roles of autophagy; thus providing new insights for current cancer therapies. Whilst, we focus on anti-tumor agents that target mitoROS-regulated autophagy, in the hope of fueling the exploration of more potential novel anti-cancer drugs in the future.
Keywords: Autophagy; Cancer therapy; Macroautophagy; Mitochondrial ROS (mitoROS); Reactive oxygen species (ROS).