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Molecular Mechanisms of Dietary Compounds in Cancer Management

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Bioactives and Nutraceuticals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 May 2025 | Viewed by 1961

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: cell and molecular biology; natural compounds; biophysics; oncology; biochemistry

E-Mail
Guest Editor
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: bioinformatics; data science; cancer; neurobiology; diabetes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

An intense rhythm of life, stress or other unfavorable situations can lead to the disruption of homeostasis in the human body. In addition, the prolonged lifespan, compared to previous centuries, increased the incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases. Under these circumstances, neoplastic transformation remains one of the biggest challenges of this century. Preventing carcinogenesis or finding therapeutic cures represents a responsibility for all of us working in the biomedical fields. This disease often develops due to high heterogeneity and the ability of the most resistant clones to survive. Moreover, neoplastic transformation can spread in the entire body and behave as a systemic disease. Stopping the proliferating signals and the ability of the transformed cells to resist death, invade, metastasize or induce angiogenesis represent the potential targets in cancer management. Somewhere in this complex tapestry, natural products or dietary compounds can bring their benefit in releasing from the burden of this disease.

The Special Issue welcomes all types of studies dedicated to investigating the molecular mechanisms of the neoplastic transformation and its relationship with dietary compounds.

Prof. Dr. Maria Magdalena Mocanu
Dr. Alexandru Filippi
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • dietary compounds
  • cancer prevention
  • cancer therapy
  • signaling pathways
  • heterogeneity
  • multidrug resistance
  • cancer stem cells
  • genetic modifications in cancer
  • cancer and inflammation
  • viral infection in cancer
  • tumor microenvironment

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

43 pages, 2331 KiB  
Review
Molecular Mechanisms of Dietary Compounds in Cancer Stem Cells from Solid Tumors: Insights into Colorectal, Breast, and Prostate Cancer
by Alexandru Filippi, Teodora Deculescu-Ioniță, Ariana Hudiță, Oana Baldasici, Bianca Gălățeanu and Maria-Magdalena Mocanu
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(2), 631; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26020631 - 13 Jan 2025
Viewed by 1617
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 [...] Read more.
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. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Mechanisms of Dietary Compounds in Cancer Management)
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