Autophagic regulation in steroid hormone-responsive systems

•A literature survey of autophagy and ovarian sex steroid hormones.•Several experimental systems testing the involvement of sex steroids on autophagy are reviewed.•Autophagic regulation in the uterus with an emphasis on estrogen and mTOR is presented. Two female sex steroid hormones, estrogen and progesterone, are crucial regulators of many physiological functions of reproductive organs. These two hormones are versatile factors linking growth, differentiation, metabolism, and death of cells in the uterus. In recent years, it has become evident that autophagy is involved in the effects of estrogen and progesterone on various cellular events in reproductive organs. Autophagy is the self-eating catabolic process which is linked to cell survival and death in many contexts. In this review, we focus on the new findings concerning the regulation of autophagic response by sex steroid hormones in responsive target organs. We also attempt to further expand our insight into intracellular signaling mediators governing this regulation.