New Challenges in Autophagy and Chemotherapy Resistance

Dear Colleagues,

Autophagy is an intrinsic cellular process that, at its simplest level, involves the degradation of misfolded proteins and damaged cellular organelles. It is also a response to external stresses such as nutrient deficiency and hypoxia. In the latter case, autophagy is thought to provide metabolic intermediates and to generate energy to facilitate cell survival. In the cancer field, autophagy is a largely uniform response to chemotherapy and radiation, and is generally thought to be protective for the tumor cell and to potentially confer resistance. In this context, many clinical studies have explored the possibility of pharmacological inhibition of autophagy as a strategy for improving therapeutic outcomes. However, it must be recognized that autophagy can have multiple forms, in addition to its cytoprotective function. It is therefore difficult to adopt the view that inhibition of autophagy will provide more positive outcomes for the patient population. In the field of antimicrobial therapy, the function(s) of autophagy have been recognized more widely with regard to innate and adaptive immune responses to infections, with a focus on mycobacterium and tuberculosis.

This special issue will explore the current understanding of autophagy in both the fields of cancer chemotherapy and antimicrobial therapy. The goal is to integrate these diverse areas and potentially obtain a more holistic overview of this phenomenon and its contribution to therapeutic outcomes.

Prof. David A. Gewirtz,
Guest Editor

Manuscripts should be submitted via our online editorial system at https://imr.propub.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to start your submission. Manuscripts can be submitted now or up until the deadline. All papers will go through peer-review process. Accepted papers will be published in the journal (as soon as accepted) and meanwhile listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, reviews as well as short communications are preferred. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office to announce on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts will be thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. Please visit the Instruction for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) in this open access journal is 2500 USD. Submitted manuscripts should be well formatted in good English.