Glutamine metabolism remodels tumor-associated macrophage: mechanistic explorations and new strategies in translational medicine

TL;DR

This review explores how glutamine metabolism affects tumor-associated macrophages and suggests new strategies for targeting this process in cancer treatment.

Contribution

The paper provides a comprehensive review of the relationship between glutamine metabolism and macrophage function in tumors.

Findings

Glutamine metabolism influences the functional state of tumor-associated macrophages through epigenetic and signaling mechanisms.

Targeting glutamine metabolism offers potential strategies to modulate macrophage activity in the tumor microenvironment.

Existing drugs and emerging technologies are being explored to regulate glutamine metabolism for therapeutic benefit.

Abstract

Glutamine metabolism provides energy and raw materials for tumor survival and proliferation. In addition to affecting cancer cells, many studies have investigated the role of glutamine metabolism on the tumor microenvironment in depth. The macrophages, which show high frequently distribution in the majority of solid tumors, are important immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. Tumor-associated macrophage metabolic network remodeling is enormous and complicated. This review links TAM with glutamine metabolism, and combs the network relationship between the unique functional state of macrophages and the key programs of glutamine metabolism in terms of epigenetic modification, signaling pathway transduction, and metabolic checkpoint regulation. In addition, we will summarize the existing glutamine metabolism-targeting drugs and explore the new technologies and strategies for glutamine metabolism to regulate the functional state of TAM.

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