Autophagy in colorectal cancer: An important switch from physiology to pathology

Table 1 Autophagy-related genes in colorectal cancer

Gene/protein	Expression level in colorectal cancer
LC3/LC3-II	Higher expression, especially in advanced stages[20]
	Higher expression associated with aggressiveness[71]
	Higher perinuclear expression associated with positive prognosis[77]
	Higher levels in DLD-1 and SW480 CRC lines treated with autophagy inhibitors[72]
	Higher levels in CRC cell lines treated with 5-FU[73]
	Higher levels in CRC cell lines treated with 5-FU and radiotreated[74]
	Lower levels associated with good outcome and treatment response[75,76]
	Negative expression associated with poor clinical outcome and survival[87]
BECN1/	Higher expression, negatively linked to metastasis[82]
Beclin-1	Higher expression associated with favorable outcome[83]
	Higher expression associated with longer survival in patients treated with 5-FU[84]
	Higher expression associated with a worse survival in patients treated with 5-FU[85]
	Higher expression associated with metastasis and worse prognosis[86]
	Lower levels associated with increased survival in advanced CRC patients treated with cetuximab[75,76]
	Lower levels associated with poor clinical outcome and survival[87]
	Lower levels associated with a good response after chemoradiation in patients with rectal cancer[88]
ATG5	Higher levels associated with lymphovascular invasion[92]
	Lower levels[91]
	Lower expression associated with poor clinical outcome survival[87]
	Lower expression enhanced sensitivity to oxaliplatin[93]
ATG10	Higher expression associated with tumor lymph node metastasis and poor survival[95]
ATG16L1	ATG16L1T300A polymorphism improved overall survival in human CRC patients[116]
BCL2/Bcl-2	Higher levels associated with migration and invasion[105]
	Higher levels associated with resistance to paclitaxel[106]
Bif-1	Lower levels[109]

LC3: Microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3; CRC: Colorectal cancer; 5-FU: 5-fluorouracil; Bif-1: Bax-interacting factor 1; BECN1: Beclin 1; ATG5: Autophagy related 5; BCL2: B-cell CLL/lymphoma 2.