REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Breast Cancer
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1665097
The role of lactylation in breast cancer development: mechanisms, clinical translation and new strategies for treatment
Provisionally accepted
- 1Yichang Central people‘s Hospital, Yichang, China
- 2China Three Gorges University, Yichang, China
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Worldwide, breast cancer (BC) is a common and deadly illness that poses a serious risk to women's health. Its development is intimately associated with tumor microenvironment (TME) alteration and metabolic problems. Lactic acid, a principal byproduct of glycolysis, not only facilitates the acidity of the TME but also interferes with cellular circadian rhythms. Moreover, it exerts multifaceted regulatory effects on breast cancer growth by facilitating a new post-translational modification(PTM)—lysine lactylation (Kla). By accelerating metabolic reprogramming, encouraging immunological microenvironment dysregulation, and intensifying tumor growth, metastasis, and chemoresistance, Kla has been shown in studies to contribute to the advancement of BC and poor prognosis. Lactate production and transport, especially targeting lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and monocarboxylate transporter protein (MCT), show promise in BC treatment. Both tumor-suppressive and immunotherapy-enhancing effects are exhibited by inhibitors that target LDH and MCTs, and they may work in concert with immunotherapy. The function of Kla in BC, its underlying processes, and the possibility of treating the condition by specifically targeting Kla are all examined in this review. Additionally, it suggests the creation of precision-targeted treatments, providing fresh viewpoints on metabolic treatments and combination treatments for BC.
Keywords: breast cancer, Lactate, lactylation, targeted therapy, Tumor Microenvironment
Received: 13 Jul 2025; Accepted: 22 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lu, Yang, Tan, Yang, Yu and Tan. 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: Yuyan Tan, tyytyz@sina.com
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