Regulation of Autophagy by microRNAs: Implications in Cancer Therapy

As an emerging hallmark of cancer, aberrant energy metabolism has drawn increasing attention in both basic research and clinical study. Autophagy is one of the main mechanisms for cells to maintain metabolic homeostasis, and cancer cells often display altered autophagic activity. Thus, autophagy is now pursued as a target for anti-cancer therapies. The current approaches to modulating autophagy include manipulation of either expressions or functions of the proteins that are key components of autophagic pathways. As a main post-transcriptional regulatory factor, microRNAs play important roles in various physiological and pathophysiological processes including cancers. Since miR-30a was first reported to regulate autophagy through targeting 3′ untranslated region (3′ UTR) of Beclin-1, a key autophagy regulatory gene, numerous miRNAs involved in autophagy regulation have been reported. Here we overview the current knowledge regarding the roles of miRNAs in regulation of autophagy and their implication in cancer therapy.