Recent Advances in the Role of Autophagy in Endocrine-Dependent Tumors.

This article focuses on the complex and dual roles of autophagy—a conserved cellular recycling process—in endocrine-dependent cancers, particularly breast and prostate cancers. Autophagy can act as a tumor suppressor during early cancer stages by maintaining genomic stability but may promote tumor growth, metastasis, and therapy resistance in established disease through supporting tumor metabolism and survival. The review highlights both tumor-intrinsic and tumor-extrinsic mechanisms by which autophagy influences cancer initiation, progression, metastasis, and response to treatments, noting conflicting evidence regarding its promotive or suppressive effects in endocrine tumors. Current clinical trials primarily use chloroquine (CQ) or hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to inhibit autophagy in endocrine-related cancers, but results remain inconclusive, underscoring the need for further mechanistic studies, improved biomarkers, and targeted therapies to clarify autophagy's role and therapeutic potential in these cancers.