Open Access

REVIEW

Glutamine transporters as effective targets in digestive system malignant tumor treatment

FEI CHU¹, KAI TONG¹, XIANG GU¹, MEI BAO¹, YANFEN CHEN¹, BIN WANG², YANHUA SHAO¹, LING WEI^1,*

1 School of Chinese Materia Medica, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
2 Department of Pharmacy, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300070, China

* Corresponding Author: LING WEI. Email:

Oncology Research 2024, 32(10), 1661-1671. https://doi.org/10.32604/or.2024.048287

Received 03 December 2023; Accepted 07 April 2024; Issue published 18 September 2024

Abstract

Glutamine is one of the most abundant non-essential amino acids in human plasma and plays a crucial role in many biological processes of the human body. Tumor cells take up a large amount of glutamine to meet their rapid proliferation requirements, which is supported by the upregulation of glutamine transporters. Targeted inhibition of glutamine transporters effectively inhibits cell growth and proliferation in tumors. Among all cancers, digestive system malignant tumors (DSMTs) have the highest incidence and mortality rates, and the current therapeutic strategies for DSMTs are mainly surgical resection and chemotherapy. Due to the relatively low survival rate and severe side effects associated with DSMTs treatment, new treatment strategies are urgently required. This article summarizes the glutamine transporters involved in DSMTs and describes their role in DSMTs. Additionally, glutamine transporter-target drugs are discussed, providing theoretical guidance for the further development of drugs DSMTs treatment.

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