Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Nov 26, 2020; 12(11): 1295-1306
Published online Nov 26, 2020. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v12.i11.1295
Advance in metabolism and target therapy in breast cancer stem cells
Xu Gao, Qiong-Zhu Dong
Xu Gao, Department of Breast Surgery, Yiwu Maternity and Children Hospital, Yiwu 322000, Zhejiang Province, China
Qiong-Zhu Dong, Department of General Surgery, Cancer Metastasis Institute, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81772563.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xu Gao, MD, Doctor, Department of Breast Surgery, Yiwu Maternity and Children Hospital, No. C-100 Xinke Road, Yiwu 322000, Zhejiang Province, China. gao.xu.199@gmail.com
Received: July 1, 2020
Peer-review started: July 1, 2020
First decision: July 30, 2020
Revised: September 6, 2020
Accepted: September 27, 2020
Article in press: September 27, 2020
Published online: November 26, 2020
Abstract

Breast cancer, like many other cancers, is believed to be driven by a population of cells that display stem cell properties. Recent studies suggest that cancer stem cells (CSCs) are essential for tumor progression, and tumor relapse is thought to be caused by the presence of these cells. CSC-targeted therapies have also been proposed to overcome therapeutic resistance in breast cancer after the traditional therapies. Additionally, the metabolic properties of cancer cells differ markedly from those of normal cells. The efficacy of metabolic targeted therapy has been shown to enhance anti-cancer treatment or overcome therapeutic resistance of breast cancer cells. Metabolic targeting of breast CSCs (BCSCs) may be a very effective strategy for anti-cancer treatment of breast cancer cells. Thus, in this review, we focus on discussing the studies involving metabolism and targeted therapy in BCSCs.

Keywords: Breast cancer, Cancer stem cells, Metabolism, Oxidative phosphorylation, Tumor relapse, Target therapy

Core Tip: Breast cancer is thought to be driven by breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs). Recent studies suggest that BCSCs are essential for tumor progression and relapse, thus triggering therapeutic resistance in breast cancer after the traditional therapies. Moreover, the metabolic features of breast cancer cells are different from those of normal cells. BCSCs alter their metabolic profiles to fulfil bioenergetic and biosynthetic demands to maintain cancer cell survival. Here, we review the research regarding metabolism and targeted therapy in BCSCs.