Lipid Droplets in Cancer: From Composition and Role to Imaging and Therapeutics

Cancer is the second most common cause of death worldwide, having its origin in the abnormal growth of cells. Available chemotherapeutics still present major drawbacks, usually associated with high toxicity and poor distribution, with only a small fraction of drugs reaching the tumour sites. Thus, it is urgent to develop novel therapeutic strategies. Cancer cells can reprogram their lipid metabolism to sustain uncontrolled proliferation, and, therefore, accumulate a higher amount of lipid droplets (LDs). LDs are cytoplasmic organelles that store neutral lipids and are hypothesized to sequester anti-cancer drugs, leading to reduced efficacy. Thus, the increased biogenesis of LDs in neoplastic conditions makes them suitable targets for anticancer therapy and for the development of new dyes for cancer cells imaging. In recent years, cancer nanotherapeutics offered some exciting possibilities, including improvement tumour detection and eradication. In this review we summarize LDs biogenesis, structure and composition, and highlight their role in cancer theranostics.