Exploring Amino Acid Transporters as Therapeutic Targets for Cancer: An Examination of Inhibitor Structures, Selectivity Issues, and Discovery Approaches

Amino acid transporters are abundant amongst the solute carrier family and have an important role in facilitating the transfer of amino acids across cell membranes. Because of their impact on cell nutrient distribution, they also appear to have an important role in the growth and development of canc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pharmaceutics 2024-01, Vol.16 (2), p.197
Main Authors: Jakobsen, Sebastian, Nielsen, Carsten Uhd
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino acids
ASCT2
Binding sites
Cancer
Care and treatment
Cell growth
Competition
Development and progression
Glucose
Health aspects
inhibitors
Kinases
LAT1
Ligands
Metabolism
Metabolites
Prostate cancer
Review
solute carriers
Tumors
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Summary:Amino acid transporters are abundant amongst the solute carrier family and have an important role in facilitating the transfer of amino acids across cell membranes. Because of their impact on cell nutrient distribution, they also appear to have an important role in the growth and development of cancer. Naturally, this has made amino acid transporters a novel target of interest for the development of new anticancer drugs. Many attempts have been made to develop inhibitors of amino acid transporters to slow down cancer cell growth, and some have even reached clinical trials. The purpose of this review is to help organize the available information on the efforts to discover amino acid transporter inhibitors by focusing on the amino acid transporters ASCT2 (SLC1A5), LAT1 (SLC7A5), xCT (SLC7A11), SNAT1 (SLC38A1), SNAT2 (SLC38A2), and PAT1 (SLC36A1). We discuss the function of the transporters, their implication in cancer, their known inhibitors, issues regarding selective inhibitors, and the efforts and strategies of discovering inhibitors. The goal is to encourage researchers to continue the search and development within the field of cancer treatment research targeting amino acid transporters.
ISSN:1999-4923
1999-4923
DOI:10.3390/pharmaceutics16020197