Autophagic cell death restricts chromosomal instability during replicative crisis

Autophagic cell death during Drosophila embryogenesis

Steroid regulation of autophagic programmed cell death during development.

Apoptosis and autophagy are morphologically distinct forms of programmed cell death. While autophagy occurs during the development of diverse organisms and has been implicated in tumorigenesis, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that regulate this type of cell death. Here we show that steroid-activated programmed cell death of Drosophila salivary glands occurs by autophagy. Expressi...

Autophagic Cell Death and Cancer

Programmed cell death (PCD) is a crucial process required for the normal development and physiology of metazoans. The three major mechanisms that induce PCD are called type I (apoptosis), type II (autophagic cell death), and type III (necrotic cell death). Dysfunctional PCD leads to diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration. Although apoptosis is the most common form of PCD, recent studies ...

Autophagic Cell Death and Cancer Chemotherapeutics

Autophagy usually functions in cell-protective events. However, it may also be utilized as a cell-suicide mechanism, which is known as “autophagic cell death.” Autophagic cell death is frequently induced in cells that lack apoptotic machinery, such as p53-defi cient cancer cells. Therefore, small compounds that activate autophagic cell death are good candidates for anticancer chemotherapeutics ...

Chromosomal instability triggers cell death via local signalling through the innate immune receptor Toll

Chromosomal instability (CIN) is a hallmark of cancer and has been implicated in cancer initiation, progression and the development of resistance to traditional cancer therapy. Here we identify a new property of CIN cells, showing that inducing CIN in proliferating Drosophila larval tissue leads to the activation of innate immune signalling in CIN cells. Manipulation of this immune pathway stro...