Advances in the role of autophagy in the development of retinoblastoma

Autophagy is a feedback regulatory mechanism of cells to external stress, which helps cells to adapt to changes in physiological conditions and environmental stress. Autophagy possesses a variety of target genes that control a wide range of signaling pathways. Maintenance of an appropriate level of autophagy is essential for the growth, metastasis and characteristics of tumors. Retinoblastoma (RB) is the most common primary intraocular malignant tumor found in the eyes of children following exposure to extreme environmental factors, such as mitochondrial defects, oxidative stress and excessive autophagy; this leads to the development of DNA damage and progressive loss of the function of the eye, which results in the occurrence of RB. Recent studies have documented the involvement of autophagy in the transformation, occurrence and metastasis of RB. High or low levels of autophagy exert notably promotive or repressive effects on the development, invasion, drug resistance and survival of RB, respectively. The present review reports the research progress on the association between autophagy and RB.