Abstract
Amino acid transporters are membrane transport proteins, most of which are members of the solute carrier families. Amino acids are essential for the survival of all types of cells, including tumor cells, which have an increased demand for nutrients to facilitate proliferation and cancer progression. Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women worldwide and is still associated with high mortality rates, despite improved treatment strategies. Recent studies have demonstrated that the amino acid metabolic pathway is altered in breast cancer and that amino acid transporters affect tumor growth and progression. In breast cancer, glutamine is one of the key nutrients, and glutamine metabolism is closely related to the amino acid transporters. In this review, we focus on amino acid transporters and their roles in breast cancer. We also highlight the different subsets of upregulated amino acid transporters in breast cancer and discuss their potential applications as treatment targets, cancer imaging tracers, and drug delivery components. Glutamine metabolism as well as its regulation and therapeutic implication in breast cancer are also discussed.
Highlights
Breast cancer is the most common malignancy and second leading cause of death in women worldwide [1]
Serine is a source of materials for nucleotide synthesis and DNA methylation; leucine, glutamine, and arginine are signaling factors that activate the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway; and glutamine, glycine, and aspartate are required for nucleotide synthesis [4,5]
The proliferation and maintenance of tumor cells are dependent on the amino acid supply to the intracellular space, which is regulated by amino acid transporters
Summary
Breast cancer is the most common malignancy and second leading cause of death in women worldwide [1]. Amino acids are essential nutrients in all living cells and are important for the proliferation and maintenance of tumor cells. The proliferation and maintenance of tumor cells are dependent on the amino acid supply to the intracellular space, which is regulated by amino acid transporters. Recent studies have demonstrated that some amino acid metabolic pathways, such as glutamine, serine, glycine, and proline, are altered in breast cancer, suggesting that amino acid transport may be important for breast cancer proliferation and progression [6,7,8,9,10]. We discuss the roles of amino acid transporters and glutamine metabolism in breast cancer and emphasize the importance of amino acid transporter as therapeutic targets
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