Role of CD36 in cancer progression, stemness, and targeting.

CD36 is highly expressed in diverse tumor types and its expression correlates with advanced stages, poor prognosis, and reduced survival. In cancer cells, CD36: 1) increases fatty acid uptake, reprogramming lipid metabolism; 2) favors cancer cell proliferation, and 3) promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Furthermore, CD36 expression correlates with the expression of cancer stem cell markers and CD36 cancer cells display increased stemness functional properties, including clonogenicity, chemo- and radioresistance, and metastasis-initiating capability, suggesting CD36 is a marker of the cancer stem cell population.