Autophagy in Osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma (OS) remains a difficult disease to treat. The standard chemotherapy regimen has not improved survival for the past three decades. Resistance to chemotherapy remains a challenge and constitutes a major concern to clinical investigators. Autophagy has been recognized as a survival mechanism implicated in resistance to chemotherapy. We previously demonstrated chemotherapy to induce autophagy in OS. However, whether induction of autophagy will lead to survival or death has been the focus of many laboratories. Autophagy is a very context-dependent process, and no specific biomarker has been identified to define whether the process will lead to survival or death. In the present chapter, we present some of the mechanisms involved in the process of autophagy and summarize some of the most recent work related to autophagy in OS and the challenges encountered with the use of old and new autophagy inhibitors.