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REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1578940
This article is part of the Research Topic Metabolism in the Tumour Microenvironment: Implications for Pathogenesis and Therapeutics View all 5 articles
Glutamine's Double-Edged Sword: Fueling Tumor Growth and Offering Therapeutic Hope
Provisionally accepted- 1 Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, China
- 2 Jinan Zhangqiu District Hospital of TCM, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
- 3 Jinan Nanshan People's Hospital, Jinan, China
- 4 Medical School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
Tumor metabolic reprogramming is a highly complex process that enables tumor survival in the presence of limited nutrients, involving multiple signaling pathways, non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), and transcription factors. Lately, glutamine has been found to enhance the growth, spread, and drug resistance of cancer cells, while also fostering an immunosuppressive microenvironment that aids tumor development. However, in some tumors, such as pancreatic cancer and melanoma, additional glutamine can inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells, and this mechanism is closely related to the regulation of the immune microenvironment. Therefore, further exploration of glutamine metabolism in tumors is essential for understanding the pathogenesis of cancer and for developing new metabolically targeted therapies. We systematically review the latest research on the reprogramming of glutamine metabolism and its role of tumor growth, spread, and immune system regulation. Additionally, we review the clinical research progress on targeted glutamine therapies and their application in combination with current anti-tumor treatments. Ultimately, we address the challenges and prospects involved in resistance to anti-cancer strategies aimed at glutamine metabolism.
Keywords: combination therapy, glutamine metabolism, immune microenvironment, metabolic reprogramming, tumors
Received: 18 Feb 2025; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fang, Gao, Jiang, Li and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ming Li, Medical School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
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