Fig. 9
From: Selective autophagy in cancer: mechanisms, therapeutic implications, and future perspectives
The dual role of Mitophagy in cancer. On the one hand, mitophagy can promote cancer by providing adequate nutrition, energy and oxygen to cancer cells, maintaining the stem cell characteristics of tumor stem cells, promoting the invasion and metastasis of cancer cells, mediating drug resistance of cancer cells, inhibiting iron death, and activating inflammasome. On the other hand, mitophagy at the basal level can degrade dysfunctional mitochondria to maintain cell homeostasis, limit the production of ROS and thus inhibit cancer. And excessive mitophagy and mitophagy after chemotherapy can also promote cancer death