Asparagine, a critical limiting metabolite during glutamine starvation

Abstract

A challenge of targeting glutamine metabolism in cancer is that tumor cells develop various strategies to adapt to glutamine limitation. We found that asparagine plays a critical role in supporting protein synthesis during glutamine starvation, highlighting a possible approach to optimize the therapeutic efficacy of targeting glutamine metabolism in cancer.

Keywords

• glutamine
• asparagine
• asparaginase
• glutamine synthetase
• protein synthesis
• biology of malignant cells
• mechanisms of oncogenesis and tumor progression
• novel therapeutic targets
• oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes
• tumor metabolism