Involvement of autophagy in cervical, endometrial and ovarian cancer.

Autophagy is an intracellular molecular pathway that maintains cellular homeostasis. A role for autophagy in the development as well as in the treatment of gynecologic malignancies, while still under-investigated, is receiving increased interest. Depending on concomitant factors, autophagy can either promote or suppress development of cervical, endometrial and ovarian cancer. Moreover, these cancer cells can utilize autophagy to promote its resistance to chemotherapeutic agents or, conversely, autophagy can enhance the efficacy of cytotoxic agents by promoting autophagic cell death. In this review the key autophagy-related mechanisms in development and treatment of cervical, endometrial and ovarian cancer are elucidated and evaluated.