Bioactive lipids in cancer stem cells

Figure 1 Cancer cells use glucose-derived metabolites for biosynthesis to support uncontrolled cell proliferation. Intermediates such as glucose-6-phosphate enter the pentose phosphate pathway and pyruvate is converted to lactate. Cancer stem cells are quiescent by contrast and use glucose-derived pyruvate for mitochondrial metabolism. The reason behind this metabolic shift is unclear. We propose that it is used for the synthesis of bioactive signalling molecules. TCA: Tricarboxylic acid cycle.