Autophagy: A boon or bane in oral cancer

Autophagy, as the name suggests, is "eating of self", it is an intracellular degradation system that delivers cytoplasmic constituents to the lysosome [1]. It is a constitutive basic mechanism executed in all cells, its function is to promote cellular homeostasis which is carried out through regulating proteins and organelles turnover [2]. Christian de Duve coined the term 'autophagy', which he introduced at the CIBA Foundation Symposium on Lysosomes in 1963. He described it in context of single- or double-membrane vesicles that contain parts of the cytoplasm and organelles in various states of disintegration [3].

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