Molecular Mechanisms of Dietary Compounds in Cancer Stem Cells from Solid Tumors: Insights into Colorectal, Breast, and Prostate Cancer

Filippi, Alexandru; Deculescu-Ioniță, Teodora; Hudiță, Ariana; Baldasici, Oana; Gălățeanu, Bianca; Mocanu, Maria-Magdalena

doi:10.3390/ijms26020631

Open AccessReview

Molecular Mechanisms of Dietary Compounds in Cancer Stem Cells from Solid Tumors: Insights into Colorectal, Breast, and Prostate Cancer

by

Alexandru Filippi

^1,†

,

Teodora Deculescu-Ioniță

^2,†

,

Ariana Hudiță

³

,

Oana Baldasici

⁴

,

Bianca Gălățeanu

³

and

Maria-Magdalena Mocanu

^1,*

¹

Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Bucharest, 050474 Bucharest, Romania

²

Department of Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry and Phytotherapy, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Bucharest, 050474 Bucharest, Romania

³

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Bucharest, 050095 Bucharest, Romania

⁴

Department of Genetics, Genomics and Experimental Pathology, The Oncology Institute “Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuță”, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These two authors equally contributed to the work.

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(2), 631; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26020631

Submission received: 21 November 2024 / Revised: 10 January 2025 / Accepted: 11 January 2025 / Published: 13 January 2025

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Mechanisms of Dietary Compounds in Cancer Management)

Download

Browse Figures

Versions Notes

Abstract

Cancer stem cells (CSC) are known to be the main source of tumor relapse, metastasis, or multidrug resistance and the mechanisms to counteract or eradicate them and their activity remain elusive. There are different hypotheses that claim that the origin of CSC might be in regular stem cells (SC) and, due to accumulation of mutations, these normal cells become malignant, or the source of CSC might be in any malignant cell that, under certain environmental circumstances, acquires all the qualities to become CSC. Multiple studies indicate that lifestyle and diet might represent a source of wellbeing that can prevent and ameliorate the malignant phenotype of CSC. In this review, after a brief introduction to SC and CSC, we analyze the effects of phenolic and non-phenolic dietary compounds and we highlight the molecular mechanisms that are shown to link diets to CSC activation in colon, breast, and prostate cancer. We focus the analysis on specific markers such as sphere formation, CD surface markers, epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), Oct4, Nanog, Sox2, and aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) and on the major signaling pathways such as PI3K/Akt/mTOR, NF-κB, Notch, Hedgehog, and Wnt/β-catenin in CSC. In conclusion, a better understanding of how bioactive compounds in our diets influence the dynamics of CSC can raise valuable awareness towards reducing cancer risk.

Keywords: cancer stem cells; diet; colorectal cancer; breast cancer; prostate cancer; epithelial–mesenchymal transition; signaling pathways

Graphical Abstract

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Filippi, A.; Deculescu-Ioniță, T.; Hudiță, A.; Baldasici, O.; Gălățeanu, B.; Mocanu, M.-M. Molecular Mechanisms of Dietary Compounds in Cancer Stem Cells from Solid Tumors: Insights into Colorectal, Breast, and Prostate Cancer. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26, 631. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26020631

AMA Style

Filippi A, Deculescu-Ioniță T, Hudiță A, Baldasici O, Gălățeanu B, Mocanu M-M. Molecular Mechanisms of Dietary Compounds in Cancer Stem Cells from Solid Tumors: Insights into Colorectal, Breast, and Prostate Cancer. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2025; 26(2):631. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26020631

Chicago/Turabian Style

Filippi, Alexandru, Teodora Deculescu-Ioniță, Ariana Hudiță, Oana Baldasici, Bianca Gălățeanu, and Maria-Magdalena Mocanu. 2025. "Molecular Mechanisms of Dietary Compounds in Cancer Stem Cells from Solid Tumors: Insights into Colorectal, Breast, and Prostate Cancer" International Journal of Molecular Sciences 26, no. 2: 631. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26020631

APA Style

Filippi, A., Deculescu-Ioniță, T., Hudiță, A., Baldasici, O., Gălățeanu, B., & Mocanu, M.-M. (2025). Molecular Mechanisms of Dietary Compounds in Cancer Stem Cells from Solid Tumors: Insights into Colorectal, Breast, and Prostate Cancer. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 26(2), 631. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26020631

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Menu

Molecular Mechanisms of Dietary Compounds in Cancer Stem Cells from Solid Tumors: Insights into Colorectal, Breast, and Prostate Cancer

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI