Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Nov 15, 2018; 10(11): 367-369
Published online Nov 15, 2018. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v10.i11.367
Upgraded role of autophagy in colorectal carcinomas
Evangelos Koustas, Panagiotis Sarantis, Athanassios G Papavassiliou, Michalis V Karamouzis
Evangelos Koustas, Panagiotis Sarantis, Athanassios G Papavassiliou, Michalis V Karamouzis, Division of Molecular Oncology, Department of Biological Chemistry, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 11527, Greece
Author contributions: All authors participated in the writing and editing of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Michalis V Karamouzis, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Chemistry, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 75, M. Asias Street, Athens 11527, Greece. mkaramouz@med.uoa.gr
Telephone: +30-210-7210960 Fax: +30-210-7210960
Received: July 3, 2018
Peer-review started: July 3, 2018
First decision: July 19, 2018
Revised: August 1, 2018
Accepted: October 9, 2018
Article in press: October 9, 2018
Published online: November 15, 2018
Processing time: 135 Days and 20.4 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: The significant role of autophagy in maintaining the balance of tumorigenesis and cancer cell death remains controversial. The last decade grown body of evidence support the notion that autophagy is a promising target for many malignant tumors, including colorectal cancer (CRC). A novel therapeutic approach which could involve autophagy inhibitors or immunotherapy plus chemotherapeutic drugs could open a new field for treating patients with CRC.