Fig. 1.

Metabolic differences between cancer stem cells and non-stem cancer cells. Increased mitochondrial activity in GBM CSCs results in increased oxidative phosphorylation, leading to elevated oxidative stress from reactive oxygen species that promote genomic alterations and instability that ultimately lead to clonal heterogeneity. Increased fatty acid oxidation is linked to the relative proliferative quiescence of GBM CSCs. Other metabolites, such as the levels of α-ketoglutarate and 2-hydroxyglutarate, promote epigenetic alterations that contribute to stem cell maintenance. By contrast, non-stem cancer cells primarily depend on aerobic glycolysis that results in the Warburg effect and drives increased proliferation in these cells