癌干细胞（CSCs）是存在于癌细胞中的一小部分干细胞，被认为是肿瘤复发、转移和药物耐药的“元凶”。铁死亡（Ferroptosis）是一种有希望的抗癌疗法。由于其独特的代谢特性，CSCs的生长更依赖于铁和脂质，而非普通癌细胞。当铁/脂质代谢紊乱，即氧化还原平衡失调时，CSCs更容易发生铁死亡。核因子E2相关因子2（Nrf2）的表达，是决定细胞是否处于氧化应激和铁死亡的主要调节分子。CSCs中的Nrf2表达水平较高，表明对Nrf2依赖更加强烈。本文阐述了CSCs的独特生物学和代谢特性，并探讨了通过靶向Nrf2诱导铁死亡的机制，从而为消除侵袭性肿瘤和实现治愈肿瘤的目标提供了有希望的新靶点。版权所有 © 2023 Elsevier B.V. 保留所有权利。

Cancer stem cells (CSCs), a small population of stem cells existing in cancer cells, are considered as the "culprits" of tumor recurrence, metastasis, and drug resistance. Ferroptosis is a promising new lead in anti-cancer therapy. Because of unique metabolic characteristics, CSCs' growth is more dependent on the iron and lipid than ordinary cancer cells. When the metabolism of iron/lipid is disordered, that is, imbalanced redox homeostasis, CSCs are more susceptible to ferroptosis. The expression of Nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a molecule playing a major regulatory role in redox homeostasis, determines whether the cells are under oxidative stress and ferroptosis occurs. Nrf2 expression level is higher in CSCs, indicating stronger dependence on Nrf2. Here we expound the unique biological and metabolic characteristics of CSCs, explore the mechanism of inducing ferroptosis by targeting Nrf2, thus providing promising new targets for eliminating aggressive tumors and achieving the goal of curing tumors.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.