Autophagy: Dual roles and perspective for clinical treatment of colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) raises concerns to people because of its high recurrence and metastasis rate, diagnosis challenges, and poor prognosis. Various studies have shown the association of altered autophagy with tumorigenesis, tumor-stroma interactions, and resistance to cancer therapy in CRC. Autophagy is a highly conserved cytosolic catabolic process in eukaryotes that plays distinct roles in CRC occurrence and progression. In early tumorigenesis, autophagy may inhibit tumor growth through diverse mechanisms, whereas it exhibits a tumor promoting function in CRC progression. This different functions of autophagy in CRC occurrence and progression make developing therapies targeting autophagy complicated. In this review, we discuss the classification and process of autophagy as well as its dual roles in CRC, functions in the tumor microenvironment, cross-talk with apoptosis, and potential usefulness as a CRC therapeutic target.