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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Semin Cancer Biol. 2019 Jul 26;66:140–154. doi: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2019.07.013

Fig. 3. A schematic representation of how MDA-7/IL-24 regulates toxic autophagy in cancer cells leading to cell death.

Fig. 3.

MDA-7/IL-24 regulates autophagy mediated through ER stress and ceramide production. MDA-7/IL-24 first interacts with its receptors which leads to a downstream signaling pathway mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS regulates DICER and through this molecule MDA-7/IL-24 downregulates miR-221, which in turn upregulates Beclin-1 to induce toxic autophagy leading to cell death. The transition of protective to toxic autophagy is explained by the cleavage of ATG5 by Calpain, which is also mediated by ROS induced from MDA-7/IL-24 treatment.