REVIEW article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Cancer Cell Biology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1562542
The Role of Lipophagy in Liver Cancer: Mechanisms and Targeted Therapeutic Interventions
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Wuxi Medical College, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
- 2Clinical Laboratory Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Nantong University & Nantong Tumor Hospital,, Nantong Tumor Hospital, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China
- 3Clinical Laboratory Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Nantong University & Nantong Tumor Hospital,, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China
- 4Department of Gastroenterology, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
- 5Department of Gastroenterology, shenzhen people'hospital, Shenzhen, China
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Liver cancer, the advanced stage of various chronic liver diseases, has garnered attention due to its high incidence and insidious progression. Lipid droplets (LDs), unique lipid storage organelles in hepatocytes, play a pivotal role in lipid metabolism. Lipophagy, a selective autophagy process initially identified in hepatocytes, regulates lipid homeostasis by selectively degrading LDs. This process offers a novel therapeutic avenue for addressing lipid metabolism disorders in liver cancer. This review highlights the regulatory role of lipophagy in liver cancer progression and its therapeutic potential. It elaborates on the molecular mechanisms underlying lipophagy-mediated LDs degradation and discusses the dual regulatory role of lipophagy in liver cancer. While lipophagy can suppress liver cancer development, under specific conditions, it may promote cancer cell proliferation, inhibit apoptosis, facilitate invasion and metastasis, and contribute to treatment resistance. Consequently, strategies targeting lipophagy for liver cancer prevention and therapy hold significant promise. These include interventions through traditional Chinese and Western medicine, as well as lifestyle modifications. This review evaluates current research, hotspots, and controversies in the field, aiming to provide innovative therapeutic strategies for liver cancer associated with abnormal lipid metabolism.
Keywords: Lipophagy, liver cancer, Cancer Progression, Inhibition and Promotion of Cancer, Targeted Medcine
Received: 21 Jan 2025; Accepted: 26 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Han, Wang, Chen, Ge, Xu, Ren and Meng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Hongbo Ren, Department of Gastroenterology, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, Shandong Province, China
Yiteng Meng, Department of Gastroenterology, shenzhen people'hospital, Shenzhen, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.