Cited by 169Cancer, Hypoxia, and MetabolismAmino Acid Enzymes and MetabolismGlioma Diagnosis and Treatment

Glutamine Synthetase Promotes Radiation Resistance via Facilitating Nucleotide Metabolism and Subsequent DNA Damage Repair

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Fu, Shujun, Li, Zhi, Xiao, Lanbo, Hu, Wenfeng, Zhang, Lu, Xie, Bowen, Zhou, Qin, He, Junju +8 more·2019·Cell Reports

Abstract

Radiation resistance is a critical problem in radiotherapy for cancer. Radiation kills tumor cells mainly through causing DNA damage. Thus, efficiency of DNA damage repair is one of the most important factors that limits radiotherapy efficacy. Glutamine physiologically functions to generate protein and nucleotides. Here, we study the impact of glutamine metabolism on cancer therapeutic responses, in particular under irradiation-induced stress. We show that radiation-resistant cells possessed low glycolysis, mitochondrial respiration, and TCA cycle but high glutamine anabolism. Transcriptome analyses revealed that glutamine synthetase (GS), an enzyme catalyzing glutamate and ammonia to glutamine, was responsible for the metabolic alteration. ChIP and luciferase reporter assays revealed that GS could be transcriptionally regulated by STAT5. Knockdown of GS delayed DNA repair, weakened nucleotide metabolism, and enhanced radiosensitivity both in vitro and in vivo. Our data show that GS links glutamine metabolism to radiotherapy response through fueling nucleotide synthesis and accelerating DNA repair.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.07.002

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  • Under DNA damage such as radiation, glutamine is conditionally essential to support nucleotide synthesis and redox homeostasis; radioresistant cancer cells reprogram flux toward glutamine anabolism and express glutamine synthetase.

    “Under DNA damage such as radiation, glutamine is conditionally essential to support the synthesis of nucleotides and redox homeostasis. It has recently been demonstrated that radioresistant cancer cells reprogram metabolic flux toward glutamine anabolism. Under these conditions, cancer cells highly express glutamine synthetase, facilitating cancer cell growth under radiation stress150.”

    From Glutamine reliance in cell metabolism (2020) · cites this paper as [150]

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Authors
Fu, S., Li, Z., Xiao, L., Hu, W., Zhang, L., Xie, B., Zhou, Q., He, J., Qiu, Y., Wen, M., Peng, Y., Gao, J., Tan, R., Deng, Y., Weng, L., & Sun, L.-Q.
Affiliations
Central South University (CN)
Corresponding author
Sun, Lun-Quan
Venue
Cell Reports
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-07
Volume
28
Issue
5
Pages
1136-1143.e4
ISSN
2211-1247 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2955166256
Cited by
169
References
46
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 9
FWCI
5.76
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cell Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Guangxi Key Research and Development Program (2017SK2040)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (81530084, 81702638, 81702770)
  • Central South University (ZLXD2017003)
  • China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M622615)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biochemistry › Amino Acid Enzymes and Metabolism
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Genetics › Glioma Diagnosis and Treatment
Keywords
glutamine synthetase, radioresistance (biology), DNA repair, nucleotide metabolism, glutamine metabolism, radiotherapy resistance, glycolysis, mitochondrial respiration, TCA cycle, cancer metabolism
MeSH terms
Animals, DNA Damage, DNA Repair, Glutamine, Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase, Humans, Mice, Inbred BALB C, Mice, Nude, Neoplasm Proteins, Neoplasms, Nucleotides, Radiation Tolerance, Cell Line, Tumor, Mice

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