Contribution of Bcl-2 pro-survival proteins to cancer associated with dysregulated autophagy

细胞的存活和死亡由两个过程控制，即细胞凋亡和自噬。细胞凋亡消除了受损的细胞，而自噬则清除了细胞中有缺陷的成分。这两个过程都由Bcl2蛋白调控。众所周知，Bcl-2调控功能失调会导致癌症。在这个项目中，我们的目标是研究自噬的非调控的Bcl-2控制是否也在癌症进展中起关键作用，并获得这种控制是如何发挥作用的分子图像。

Cell survival and death are controlled by two processes known as apoptosis and autophagy. Apoptosis eliminates damaged cells whereas autophagy gets rid of faulty components in the cell. The Bcl-2 proteins regulate both processes. It is well established that dysfunctional Bcl-2 regulation leads to cancer. In this project, we aim to investigate if deregulated Bcl-2 control of autophagy also has a key role in cancer progression and to obtain a molecular picture of how this control is exerted.