Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Apr 26, 2022; 14(4): 267-286
Published online Apr 26, 2022. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v14.i4.267
Correlation between amino acid metabolism and self-renewal of cancer stem cells: Perspectives in cancer therapy
Qi Zhang, Wei Li
Qi Zhang, Wei Li, Cancer Center, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100015, China
Author contributions: Zhang Q wrote the manuscript; Li W reviewed the manuscript critically; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Capital’s Funds for Health Improvement and Research (CFH), No. 2020-2-2175; and Beijing Talents Project.
Conflict-of-interest statement: 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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wei Li, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Cancer Center, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Jingshun East Street, Beijing 100015, China. weili8989@ccmu.edu.cn
Received: January 11, 2022
Peer-review started: January 11, 2022
First decision: March 11, 2022
Revised: March 19, 2022
Accepted: April 25, 2022
Article in press: April 25, 2022
Published online: April 26, 2022
Abstract

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) possess self-renewal and differentiation potential, which may be related to recurrence, metastasis, and radiochemotherapy resistance during tumor treatment. Understanding the mechanisms via which CSCs maintain self-renewal may reveal new therapeutic targets for attenuating CSC resistance and extending patient life-span. Recent studies have shown that amino acid metabolism plays an important role in maintaining the self-renewal of CSCs and is involved in regulating their tumorigenicity characteristics. This review summarizes the relationship between CSCs and amino acid metabolism, and discusses the possible mechanisms by which amino acid metabolism regulates CSC characteristics particularly self-renewal, survival and stemness. The ultimate goal is to identify new targets and research directions for elimination of CSCs.

Keywords: Amino acid metabolism, Cancer stem cell, Self-renewal, Resistance

Core Tip: Amino acid metabolism plays an important role in maintaining the stemness of cancer stem cells (CSCs) and is involved in regulating their self-renewal and differentiation potential. This review summarizes the relationship between CSCs and amino acid metabolism and discusses possible mechanisms via which amino acid metabolism regulates the self-renewal and differentiation potential of CSCs. The ultimate goal is to identify new targets and research directions for elimination of CSCs.