The emerging role of cholesterol metabolism in gynecologic cancer development and therapy

The significance of cholesterol metabolism in cancer is a topic of renewed interest. Cholesterol is an essential factor for mammal cells, for it is not only involved in constituting the cell membrane, but also serves as a precursor to steroid hormones and bile acids. Numerous studies have provided increasing evidence of its high relevance to cancer progression. Targeting cholesterol metabolism by using cholesterol metabolism inhibitors has offered another therapeutic strategy for reversing drug resistance in tumors. Here, the regulatory process of cholesterol homeostasis under normal physiological conditions was introduced. Then, the mechanism by which cholesterol metabolism disorder caused gynecologic cancer development and therapy resistance was summarized. Finally, the therapeutic strategies targeting cholesterol metabolism were also discussed in this review.