Carotenoids, mammaglobin, palmitic acid, sphingomyelin as key molecular targets in ductal breast cancer have been identified.
The composition of the epithelial cells surrounding the lumen of the cancerous duct changes in comparison with a normal duct.
In contrast to the normal duct there is a complete depletion of carotenoids in the cancerous duct.
The cancerous duct contains smaller amount of monounsaturated fatty acids than the normal duct dominated by oleic acid.
For the cancerous duct a higher level of saturated lipids and sphingomyelin compared to the normal one is observed.