ArticleEMBO reports2021
N-acetylaspartate release by glutaminolytic ovarian cancer cells sustains protumoral macrophages.
Article in EMBO reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- Glutamine metabolism in health and disease.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Review
- N-Acetylaspartate Synthesis as a Thermodynamic Relief Mechanism for Mitochondrial Aspartate Aminotransferase.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Article
- From neuronal marker to metabolic mediator: Expanding the functional landscape of N-acetylaspartate in the central nervous system and the periphery.Neural regeneration research · 2026Article
- The Emerging Role of N-Acetylaspartate in Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Liquid Biopsy-Based Metabolomics in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: Challenges, Methodological Advances and Translational Considerations.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Fibroblastic aspartoacylase suppresses TGFβ-mediated responses and cancer progression.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Overview of glutamine metabolism in stromal components of the tumor microenvironment and potential anti-tumor therapies.Genes & diseases · 2026Review
- TAMs in the Gynecological Tumor Microenvironment: Insights from Cross-Cancer Studies for Immunotherapy.Cancers · 2026Review
- Reprogramming of nitrogen metabolism in tumors: mechanisms and therapeutic implications.Amino acids · 2026Review
- Insecticides Promote Inflammation and Gut Barrier Alteration in In-Vitro Human Models.Journal of xenobiotics · 2026Article
- A shift in the cellular redox state redirects aspartate for export under glucose deprivation.Cancer & metabolism · 2026Article
- Amino acid metabolism modulates macrophage polarization: implications for autoimmune-related diseases.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Multi-omics reveals the immune and metabolic characteristics and associations in non-mucinous ovarian cancer.Journal of ovarian research · 2025Article
- Integrative approach for enhanced ovarian cancer diagnosis: cytology and biomarkers.Discover oncology · 2025Article
- Immune evasion in ovarian cancer: implications for immunotherapy and emerging treatments.Trends in immunology · 2025Review
- Characteristic metabolite profile of 10 colorectal cancer-related bacteria.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- The role of macrophage polarization in ovarian cancer: from molecular mechanism to therapeutic potentials.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Glutamine's double-edged sword: fueling tumor growth and offering therapeutic hope.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Macrophage Checkpoint Nanoimmunotherapy Has the Potential to Reduce Malignant Progression in BioengineeredACS applied bio materials · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Glutaminolysis is known to correlate with ovarian cancer aggressiveness and invasion. However, how this affects the tumor microenvironment is elusive. Here, we show that ovarian cancer cells become addicted to extracellular glutamine when silenced for glutamine synthetase (GS), similar to naturally occurring GS-low, glutaminolysis-high ovarian cancer cells. Glutamine addiction elicits a crosstalk mechanism whereby cancer cells release N-acetylaspartate (NAA) which, through the inhibition of the NMDA receptor, and synergistically with IL-10, enforces GS expression in macrophages. In turn, GS-high macrophages acquire M2-like, tumorigenic features. Supporting this in␣vitro model, in silico data and the analysis of ascitic fluid isolated from ovarian cancer patients prove that an M2-like macrophage phenotype, IL-10 release, and NAA levels positively correlate with disease stage. Our study uncovers the unprecedented role of glutamine metabolism in modulating macrophage polarization in highly invasive ovarian cancer and highlights the anti-inflammatory, protumoral function of NAA.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.