Abstract
It is widely acknowledged that chemoresistance is one of the major consequences that leads to chemotherapeutic treatment failure and cancer-related death. In recent studies, lots of attempts have been made to clarify the mechanisms that cancer cells utilize and/or modify to become resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs. Among these, lysosomes, also called ‘‘drug-safe house’’, have emerged as one of the crucial drivers of chemoresistance through trapping passively the chemotherapeutics, thereby preventing them from reaching their intracellular targets. Notably, lysosomes take part in regulating cellular metabolism, tumor growth and metastasis. Besides, lysosomes are a platform for inter- and intracellular communication among cellular organelles and/or cell surfaces and/or between tumor cells and extracellular microenvironment. In breast cancer (BCa), the mechanisms underlying chemotherapeutic resistance are perplexing and have not been fully understood. Therefore, in this review, we briefly highlight some aspects that describe lysosome-mediated regulation of chemoresistance in BCa.
Keywords
Breast Cancer, Lysosomes, Subcellular organelles, Chemoresistance