A new glance at autophagolysosomal-dependent or -independent function of transcriptional factor EB in human cancer

Acta Pharmacol Sin. 2023 Aug;44(8):1536-1548. doi: 10.1038/s41401-023-01078-7. Epub 2023 Apr 3.

Abstract

Autophagy-lysosome system plays a variety of roles in human cancers. In addition to being implicated in metabolism, it is also involved in tumor immunity, remodeling the tumor microenvironment, vascular proliferation, and promoting tumor progression and metastasis. Transcriptional factor EB (TFEB) is a major regulator of the autophagy-lysosomal system. With the in-depth studies on TFEB, researchers have found that it promotes various cancer phenotypes by regulating the autophagolysosomal system, and even in an autophagy-independent way. In this review, we summarize the recent findings about TFEB in various types of cancer (melanoma, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, renal cell carcinoma, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer), and shed some light on the mechanisms by which it may serve as a potential target for cancer treatment.

Keywords: Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin Complex 1; TFEB Protein; autophagy-lysosomal system; metastasis; neoplasm; tumor progression.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Autophagy
  • Breast Neoplasms*
  • Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal*
  • Humans
  • Lung Neoplasms*
  • Male
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms*
  • Tumor Microenvironment