Autophagy

{
  "id": "MLC-T-ENV-002488",
  "term": "Autophagy",
  "field": "Environment",
  "definition": "1. Autophagy is a biological process that involves the lysosomal degradation of intracellular components using it a cell's own machinery. This process can play a role in cellular defense, embryonic development, and cell growth.\n\n2. A normal process in which a cell destroys proteins and other substances in its cytoplasm (the fluid inside the cell membrane but outside the nucleus), which may lead to cell death. Autophagy may prevent normal cells from developing into cancer cells, but it may also protect cancer cells by destroying anticancer drugs or substances taken up by them.",
  "references": [
    "National Cancer Institute Thesaurus",
    "National Cancer Institute Glossary"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/environment/autophagy/"
}