Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are an uncommon subset of tumor cells capable of self-renewal, differentiating, and recreating the parental tumor when transplanted into the murine background. Over the past two decades, efforts toward understanding CSC biology culminated into identifying a set of signaling pathways sustaining "stemness". Nevertheless, while metabolic rewiring is nowadays considered a hallmark of cancer, no consensus has been reached on the metabolic features underlying the plastic nature of CSCs, which are capable of residing in a dormant state, and able to rapidly proliferate when the need to repopulate the tumor mass arises. An emerging concept in the field of CSC metabolism is that these cells are extremely reliant on the activity of enzymes involved in lipid metabolism, such as stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutharyl-coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoAR). Indeed, SCD1 and HMG-CoAR have been described as key factors for the correct function of a number of concatenated pathways involved in CSC fate decision, such as Hippo and Wnt. In the present review, we describe metabolic futures of CSCs with a special focus on lipid metabolism, which until now represents an underappreciated force in maintaining CSCs and an attractive therapeutic target.

中文翻译：

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癌症干细胞的代谢特征：脂质代谢的新兴作用。

癌症干细胞（CSCs）是一种罕见的肿瘤细胞子集，当移植到鼠类背景中时，它们能够自我更新，分化和重建亲代肿瘤。在过去的二十年中，在理解CSC生物学方面的努力最终确定了一组维持“干性”的信号通路。然而，尽管如今将代谢重新布线视为癌症的标志，但尚未就CSC的可塑性本质背后的代谢功能达成共识，这些功能能够处于休眠状态，并且在需要重新填充时能够迅速增殖。出现肿瘤块。CSC代谢领域的一个新兴概念是这些细胞极其依赖参与脂质代谢的酶的活性，例如硬脂酰CoA去饱和酶1（SCD1）和3-羟基-3-甲基戊二酰辅酶A还原酶（HMG-CoAR）。实际上，SCD1和HMG-CoAR已被描述为参与CSC命运决定的许多级联途径（例如Hippo和Wnt）的正确功能的关键因素。在当前的审查中，我们描述了CSCs的代谢未来，特别着重于脂质代谢，到目前为止，它代表了维持CSCs和有吸引力的治疗靶标的力量不足。