Breast cancer is a terrible illness that has caused a drop in women's life expectancy and has a high morbidity and mortality rate. The most frequent malignancy in women is breast cancer, which has traditionally been treated with surgical removal, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Breast tumours exhibit altered biological behaviour due to genomic and epigenetic alterations, depletions, and dysregulation of molecular processes, including autophagy. When autophagy has a pro-death role, it reduces the viability of tumour cells. Autophagy function can be oncogenic in enhancing cancer. The carcinogenic role of autophagy in breast tumours is a barrier to patients receiving successful therapy since it can result in radio- and medication resistance. Autophagy can control key breast tumour characteristics such glucose metabolism, proliferation, apoptosis, and metastasis. Oncogenic autophagy can prevent apoptosis while encouraging breast tumour stemness.Moreover, autophagy exhibits interaction with elements of the tumour microenvironment like macrophages, and its level can be controlled by anti-tumor drugs in the treatment of breast tumours. The pleiotropic function of autophagy, its dual rol (pro-survival and pro-death), and its interplay with crucial molecular pathways like apoptosis are grounds to take it into consideration in the treatment of breast cancer. Also, the present review offers a pre-clinical and clinical assessment of autophagy in breast tumours.
