Glutathione Metabolism in Renal Cell Carcinoma Progression and Implications for Therapies

• Main Authors: Yi Xiao, David Meierhofer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-07-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC); reactive oxygen species (ROS); glutathione (GSH) metabolism; cancer therapy; clear cell RCC; papillary RCC; chromophobe RCC
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/15/3672

A significantly increased level of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger glutathione (GSH) has been identified as a hallmark of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The proposed mechanism for increased GSH levels is to counteract damaging ROS to sustain the viability and growth of the malignancy. Here, we review the current knowledge about the three main RCC subtypes, namely clear cell RCC (ccRCC), papillary RCC (pRCC), and chromophobe RCC (chRCC), at the genetic, transcript, protein, and metabolite level and highlight their mutual influence on GSH metabolism. A further discussion addresses the question of how the manipulation of GSH levels can be exploited as a potential treatment strategy for RCC.