Research progress on the relationship between circadian rhythm genes and breast cancer

GE Mengdi; YANG Lei; LIU Chengxiang; WANG Liwei; WANG Kuanyu

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1674-4136.2025.02.017

Abstract：Circadian rhythms constitute the core component of endogenous timing mechanisms in organisms,maintaining periodic oscillations through molecular-level clock gene networks,so as to coordinate the time sequence of physiological activities.Clock genes achieve self-regulation via transcription-translation feedback loops(TTFLs),whose homeostatic operation plays critical roles in maintaining key functions including metabolism,immunity,and cell proliferation.The abnormal evpression or disfunction of core clock genes(such as CLOCK,BMAL1,PER,and CRY families)exhibit significant associations with the pathogenesis and progression of malignant tumors,and the pathological process of breast cancer is particularly closely related to the molecular mechanism of clock disorder..This article systematically reviews the regulatory networks of clock genes and their roles in circadian rhythm maintenance,specifically analyzing the molecular pathways of dysregulation of core clock component dysfunction inducing abnormal cell cycle progression,genomic instability,and metabolic reprogramming in breast cancer cells.Combined with the evidence of clinical research,it explores the optimization effect of hourly chemotherapy strategy based on biological clock gene expression rhythm on the treatment effect of breast cancer.The synthesis of fundamental research and clinical translation data aims to provide theoretical foundations and innovative directions for molecular-targeted therapies and personalized chronotherapeutic regimens in breast cancer management.