Autophagy modulation is considered to be a promising programmed cell death
mechanism to prevent and cure a great number of disorders and diseases. The crucial step in
designing an effective therapeutic approach is to understand the correct and accurate causes of
diseases and to understand whether autophagy plays a cytoprotective or cytotoxic/cytostatic role in
the progression and prevention of disease. This knowledge will help scientists find approaches to
manipulate tumor and pathologic cells in order to enhance cellular sensitivity to therapeutics and
treat them. Although some conventional therapeutics suffer from poor solubility, bioavailability
and controlled release mechanisms, it appears that novel nanoplatforms overcome these obstacles
and have led to the design of a theranostic-controlled drug release system with high solubility and
active targeting and stimuli-responsive potentials. In this review, we discuss autophagy
modulators-related signaling pathways and some of the drug delivery strategies that have been
applied to the field of therapeutic application of autophagy modulators. Moreover, we describe
how therapeutics will target various steps of the autophagic machinery. Furthermore, nano drug
delivery platforms for autophagy targeting and co-delivery of autophagy modulators with
chemotherapeutics/siRNA, are also discussed.
Autophagy modulation is considered to be a promising programmed cell death mechanism to prevent and cure a great number of disorders and diseases. The crucial step in designing an effective therapeutic approach is to understand the correct and accurate causes of diseases and to understand whether autophagy plays a cytoprotective or cytotoxic/cytostatic role in the progression and prevention of disease. This knowledge will help scientists find approaches to manipulate tumor and pathologic cells in order to enhance cellular sensitivity to therapeutics and treat them. Although some conventional therapeutics suffer from poor solubility, bioavailability and controlled release mechanisms, it appears that novel nanoplatforms overcome these obstacles and have led to the design of a theranostic-controlled drug release system with high solubility and active targeting and stimuli-responsive potentials.