Figure 6.

NRF2 regulates crucial aspects of CSCs’ biology by controlling their redox homeostasis. As shown in this schematic representation, within the tumor mass, normal cancer cells and CSCs coexist. Among them, two different phenotypes are observed, most likely reflecting the extent of NRF2 activation. The CSC on the bottom left is characterized by high NRF2 content, low intracellular ROS levels, and high stemness and tumorigenicity but low chemosensitivity. On the opposite side of this spectrum, the CSC on the bottom right has low NRF2 content, low tumorigenicity, and a high content of intracellular ROS, resulting in high differentiation and high chemosensitivity. The figure was created starting from freely available cartoons (https://smart.servier.com/smart_image/in-situ-cancer/, accessed on 27 June 2022).