Metabolic reprogramming in cancer: Unraveling the role of glutamine in tumorigenesis

► Glutamine is consumed at high rates by many cancer and proliferating cells in order to support bioenergetics. ► Glutamine also contributes carbon and nitrogen to biosynthetic processes and can impact signal transduction. ► A growing number of oncogenes and tumor suppressors have been shown to regulate glutamine uptake and metabolism. ► Metabolism of glucose and glutamine, is coordinated during proliferation. ► New technologies for imaging glutamine metabolism may improve diagnosis and monitoring of glutaminolytic tumors.