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. 2021 Jul 22;12(8):728. doi: 10.1038/s41419-021-04011-0

Fig. 8. Schematic illustration of the mechanism and function of afatinib-induced autophagy.

Fig. 8

Afatinib induces pro-survival autophagy in HNSCC via the ROS-REDD1-TSC1-mTOR axis. Importantly, afatinib preferentially eliminates cancer stem-like HNSCC cells that may attribute to weaker autophagy induction. This suggests that combined treatment with afatinib and autophagy inhibitors might serve as a promising strategy for improving the clinical outcome of afatinib in HNSCC treatment.