Glutamine and cancer: Cell biology, physiology, and clinical opportunities

Christopher T. Hensley, Ajla T. Wasti, Ralph J. DeBerardinis

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

932 Scopus citations

Abstract

Glutamine is an abundant and versatile nutrient that participates in energy formation, redox homeostasis, macromolecular synthesis, and signaling in cancer cells. These characteristics make glutamine metabolism an appealing target for new clinical strategies to detect, monitor, and treat cancer. Here we review the metabolic functions of glutamine as a super nutrient and the surprising roles of glutamine in supporting the biological hallmarks of malignancy. We also review recent efforts in imaging and therapeutics to exploit tumor cell glutamine dependence, discuss some of the challenges in this arena, and suggest a disease-focused paradigm to deploy these emerging approaches.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3678-3684
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Clinical Investigation
Volume123
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 3 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Glutamine and cancer: Cell biology, physiology, and clinical opportunities'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this