Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are metabolically different from differentiated tumour cells, which are known as bulk cells. In this communication, we discuss the metabolic and biological differences between bulk tumour cells and CSCs. We further aim to discuss how plant metabolites can reorchestrate CSC signalling pathways, pushing these metabolically precarious cells towards differentiation and cell death. We delineate how plant metabolites curcumin, resveratrol, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and genistein alter signaling in CSCs. The chemotherapeutic and chemopreventive potential of plant metabolites is also discussed, along with an analysis of how this field is going to progress with reference to drug discovery.
Rizvi et al. (Sun,) studied this question.