Table 5.

Small-molecule compounds targeting autophagy to inhibit CSCs

Name	Target	Mechanism	Type of cancer	Phase	NCT number (starting time)/publication date	Assessment
CQ	Autophagy	Targets CSCs by inhibiting autophagy	Breast cancer	Phase II	NCT02333890 (January 7, 2015)	Induces cardiotoxicity [117]
	Autophagy	Inhibits the stemness marker of CD133+ and decreases the CSC proportions	NSCLC	Preclinical	December, 2019
HCQ	Autophagy	Eliminates LSCs	Leukemia	Phase II	NCT00771056 (October 10, 2008)	Induces retinal toxicity [118]
Pantoprazole	Autophagy	Inhibits autophagy	Prostate cancer	Phase II	NCT01748500(December 12, 2012)	DLT, grade 3 to 4 [119]
	EMT/β-catenin	Inhibits the chemoresistance of gastric cancer stem cells	Gastric cancer	Preclinical	December, 2016
3-MA	Autophagy	Reduces the resistance of mesenchymal stem cells	Myeloma	Preclinical	September, 2017	No significant side effect [120]
Rott	Autophagy	Induces autophagy leading to breast CSC death	Breast cancer	Preclinical	December 23, 2013	Without toxicity in the mice [121]