Figure 3.

Effects of activating and inhibiting autophagy on leukemia cells. Although various anticancer drugs and radiation therapy have antitumor effects, they also activate autophagy in leukemia cells. This leads to resistance to antileukemia therapy and the progression of leukemia. It is thought that the use of autophagy inhibitors in combination can compensate for this drawback. However, drugs that promote autophagy are thought to promote the activation of autophagy beyond the maintenance of leukemia homeostasis, leading to cell death.