泌尿系统，包括肾脏、输尿管、膀胱、尿道和前列腺，对于血液过滤、废物排除和电解质平衡至关重要。值得注意的是，泌尿系统癌症占全球癌症诊断和死亡率的很大一部分。目前早期癌症的治疗策略主要涉及切除手术，这显着影响患者的生活质量，而晚期癌症往往依赖效果较差的化疗或放疗。最近，越来越多的证据表明，自噬是去除细胞内多余细胞器或内含物以维持细胞稳态的关键过程，与泌尿系统癌症有许多联系。在这篇综述中，我们重点总结泌尿系统癌症中自噬的潜在双向机制。我们还回顾了当前针对自噬的临床药物，这些药物在改善泌尿系统癌症的治疗结果方面表现出巨大的潜力。此外，我们还概述了处于临床前研究阶段的针对自噬的新型小分子化合物的研究状况。此外，系统地总结和讨论了泌尿系统癌症中基于自噬调节策略的药物组合。这些发现为未来发现更多自噬相关候选药物提供了全面的新见解。版权所有 © 2024 Elsevier B.V. 保留所有权利。

The urological system, including kidneys, ureters, bladder, urethra and prostate is known to be vital for blood filtration, waste elimination and electrolyte balance. Notably, urological system cancers represent a significant portion of global cancer diagnoses and mortalities. The current therapeutic strategies for early-stage cancer primarily involve resection surgery, which significantly affects the quality of life of patients, whereas advanced-stage cancer often relies on less effective chemo- or radiotherapy. Recently, accumulating evidence has revealed that autophagy, a crucial process in which excess organelles or inclusions within cells are removed to maintain cell homeostasis, has numerous links to urological system cancers. In this review, we focus on summarizing the underlying two-sided mechanisms of autophagy in urological system cancers. We also review the current clinical drugs targeting autophagy, which demonstrate significant potential in improving treatment outcomes for urological system cancers. In addition, we provide an overview of the research status of novel small molecule compounds targeting autophagy that are in the preclinical stages of investigation. Furthermore, drug combinations based on autophagy modulation strategies in urological system cancers are systematically summarized and discussed. These findings provide comprehensive new insight for the future discovery of more autophagy-related drug candidates.Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.