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Nguyen et al. Cancer Drug Resist 2018;1:126-38 Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/cdr.2018.08 Drug Resistance

Review Open Access

Glutamine metabolism in cancer therapy

Tra-Ly Nguyen, Raúl V. Durán

Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie, INSERM U1218, Université de Bordeaux, 2 Rue Robert Escarpit, 33607 Pessac,
France.

Correspondence to: Dr. Raúl V. Durán, Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie, INSERM U1218, Université de Bordeaux, 2 Rue
Robert Escarpit, 33607 Pessac, France. E-mail: raul.duran@inserm.fr

How to cite this article: Nguyen TL, Durán RV. Glutamine metabolism in cancer therapy. Cancer Drug Resist 2018;1:126-38.
http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/cdr.2018.08

Received: 28 Jun 2018 First Decision: 23 Jul 2018 Revised: 21 Aug 2018 Accepted: 3 Sep 2018 Published: 19 Sep 2018
Science Editors: Elisa Giovannetti, Jose Antonio Rodriguez Copy Editor: Yuan-Li Wang Production Editor: Huan-Liang Wu

Abstract
The amino acid glutamine plays a key role in the metabolism of highly proliferating cells. During malignant
transformation, cancer cells modify the consumption and processing of glutamine to sustain cell growth and proliferation.
In some cases, these cancer cells become addicted to glutamine. Thus, targeting the metabolism of glutamine has been
developed during last years as a potential strategy against cancer. In this review, we summarized the last advances in our
knowledge about the role of glutamine metabolism in cancer therapy.

Keywords: Cancer, glutamine, glutamoptosis, metabolism, mammalian target of rapamycin

INTRODUCTION
Since the discovery of the “Warburg effect” about the reprogramming of glucose metabolism in the 1920s,
there is a massive interest in understanding cancer metabolism for therapeutic benefits. Glucose and gluta-
mine are two most important nutrients used by cancer cells for their proliferation and growth. While the
glycolytic pathway produces ATP and metabolic intermediates for biosynthesis, glutamine metabolism can
supply amino acids, nucleic acids and glutathione necessary for cell proliferation. In this review, we de-
scribe the metabolic transformation in cancer cells, then summarize different roles of glutamine in cancer
metabolism in biosynthesis and stress protection. Finally, we discuss potential cancer therapy targeting ap-
proaches based on glutamine metabolism.

METABOLIC TRANSFORMATION IN CANCER CELLS
[1]
Among the different hallmarks of cancer , metabolic transformation plays a key role in the adaptation of
© The Author(s) 2018. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
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