YH Wen, Zhixuan Lin, Zhongwei Jiang, Yang Li, Tianyi Wu
Breast cancer, the most prevalent malignancy among females, threatens public health worldwide. Patients with breast cancer need personalised treatment strategies on the basis of their distinct molecular characteristics due to the unique epidemiological patterns and high heterogeneity of breast cancer, which limits therapeutic efficacy and poses significant challenges to current treatments. The underlying reasons may involve complex interactions and alterations in various cell death pathways. Currently, most studies and therapeutic agents focus on a single type of cell death, whereas opportunities related to other cell death pathways are typically overlooked. Therefore, identifying the predominant type of cell death, understanding the transitions between different cell death modalities during treatment, and developing novel therapies are crucial. In this review, we summarise the dynamic balance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and clearance, as well as the characteristics of various forms of cell death induced by ROS, including pyroptosis, apoptosis, necroptosis, autophagy, ferroptosis, cuproptosis, disulfidoptosis, oxeiptosis, and epigenetic regulation of these types of cell death. Additionally, we explored a novel cell death pathway called PANoptosis. This review sheds new light on the treatment of breast cancer from the perspective of nanotechnology and the development of combination therapies.