Lipid Metabolism and Breast Cancer Therapy: An Integrative Literature Review

Abstract: Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor in women, and its incidence once surpassed lung cancer in 2020, threatening women’s health. Despite recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, some patients still develop distant metastases or local recurrence after receiving initial treatment, which leads to a poor prognosis, reduced overall survival, and decreased quality of life. Therefore, finding effective ways to further improve breast cancer outcomes is of great clinical importance. Breast cancer can be categorized into four molecular subtypes based on the expression levels of hormone receptor (HR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and Ki-67, and the therapeutic choices vary by molecular type. Disorders of lipid metabolism are among the most prominent metabolic alterations in cancer. In this paper, we will synthesize the roles played by lipid metabolism in different therapeutic treatments for breast cancer, and provide new ideas for using lipid metabolism regulation to improve the efficacy of breast cancer treatment. Keywords: lipid metabolism, breast cancer, immunotherapy, TNBC, tumor microenvironment, fatty acid oxidation