Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Nov 17.
Published in final edited form as: FEBS J. 2021 Jul 28;289(22):7177–7198. doi: 10.1111/febs.16125

Figure 6. Autophagy in cancer treatment.

Figure 6.

Autophagy inhibition in combination with other cancer treatments can potentiate overall treatment effectiveness and overcome resistance. One common cancer treatment involves the use of RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway inhibitors, but tumor cells can adapt resistance to this therapeutic strategy. ERK inhibition can partially downregulate mTOR activity, leading to de-repression and activation of protective autophagy, which may partially explain tumor adaptation to ERK pathway inhibitors such MEK inhibitors. Combining an ERK inhibitor with both autophagy inhibition and mTOR inhibition can therefore overcome resistance pathways and increase overall response to these treatments.