Phytochemical-mediated modulation of autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum stress as a cancer therapeutic approach.

Autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress are conserved processes that generally promote survival, but can induce cell death when physiological thresholds are crossed. The pro-survival aspects of these processes are exploited by cancer cells for tumor development and progression. Therefore, anticancer drugs targeting autophagy or ER stress to induce cell death and/or block the pro-survival aspects are being investigated extensively.