Taking down autophagy

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry have identified a small molecule called spautin-1 that blocked the prosurvival autophagy pathway in cancer cells.¹ Based on the findings, Harvard University, Roche and China's BioBay have partnered to develop spautin-1 derivatives and test them in preclinical models of breast and ovarian cancer.

Autophagy occurs during cellular starvation or stress and is a process by which a cell generates building blocks by degrading its own proteins and organelles in the lysosome. In the nutrient-deficient environment of the tumor, autophagy can serve as an alternative energy source that helps the malignant cells survive...