Figure 2.

Strategies to eradicate cancer cell dormancy. Different approaches are proposed to target dormant cancer cells: (1) maintaining cell quiescence to avoid tumor re-growth promoting pro-dormancy pathways and inhibiting proliferative ones; (2) awaking dormant cells to sensitize them to anti-proliferative therapies—this strategy may be pursued by stimulating cells with different cell cycle re-entry inducers and targeting re-cycling cells with conventional anti-tumor drugs; (3) eliminating dormant cells while they are still quiescent targeting autophagy and/or OXPHOS metabolism.