Autophagy, a programmed process in which cell contents are delivered to 
lysosomes for degradation, appears to have both tumor-suppressive and 
tumor-promoting functions; both stimulation and inhibition of autophagy have 
been reported to induce cancer cell death, and particular genes and proteins 
have been associated both positively and negatively with autophagy. To provide a 
basis for incisive analysis of those complexities and ambiguities and to guide 
development of new autophagy-targeted treatments for cancer, we have compiled a 
comprehensive, curated inventory of autophagy modulators by integrating 
information from published siRNA screens, multiple pathway analysis algorithms, 
and extensive, manually curated text-mining of the literature. The resulting 
inventory includes 739 proteins and 385 chemicals (including drugs, small 
molecules, and metabolites). Because autophagy is still at an early stage of 
investigation, we provide extensive analysis of our sources of information and 
their complex relationships with each other. We conclude with a discussion of 
novel strategies that could potentially be used to target autophagy for cancer 
therapy.