Glutamine for Amelioration of Radiation and Chemotherapy Associated Mucositis during Cancer Therapy.
Peter Meade AndersonRajesh V LallaPublished in: Nutrients (2020)
Glutamine is a major dietary amino acid that is both a fuel and nitrogen donor for healing tissues damaged by chemotherapy and radiation. Evidence supports the benefit of oral (enteral) glutamine to reduce symptoms and improve and/or maintain quality of life of cancer patients. Benefits include not only better nutrition, but also decreased mucosal damage (mucositis, stomatitis, pharyngitis, esophagitis, and enteritis). Glutamine supplementation in a high protein diet (10 grams/day) + disaccharides, such as sucrose and/or trehalose, is a combination that increases glutamine uptake by mucosal cells. This increased topical effect can reduce painful mucosal symptoms and ulceration associated with chemotherapy and radiation in the head and neck region, esophagus, stomach and small intestine. Topical and oral glutamine seem to be the preferred routes for this amino acid to promote mucosal healing during and after cancer treatment.
Keyphrases
- amino acid
- radiation induced
- cancer therapy
- ulcerative colitis
- locally advanced
- physical activity
- chemotherapy induced
- induced apoptosis
- gene expression
- drug delivery
- oxidative stress
- radiation therapy
- sleep quality
- weight loss
- signaling pathway
- depressive symptoms
- small molecule
- binding protein
- cell proliferation
- endoplasmic reticulum stress