The influence of glutamate receptors on proliferation and metabolic cell activity of neuroendocrine tumors.

Helga Susanne Haas, Roswitha Pfragner, Nassim Ghaffari Tabrizi-Wizsy, Katharina Rohrer, Isabella Lueftenegger, Charlotte Horwath, Nathalie Allard, Beate Rinner, Anton Sadjak

MA, Institute of Pathophysiology and Immunology, Center of Molecular Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Heinrichstrasse 31A, 8010 Graz, Austria. helga.haas@medunigraz.at

Anticancer research 2013 Apr

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Neuroendocrine tumors are relatively insensitive to radiation therapy, as well as chemotherapy. Thus, new approaches for alternative therapies are needed. We found that glutamate receptor antagonists are capable of suppressing tumor growth and cell activity of different peripheral malignancies. In the present article we review scientific literature in this field of science. Subtype-specific, non-competitive, metabotropic glutamate receptor-1 antagonists differently suppressed the growth and metabolic cell activity of one human medullary thyroid carcinoma cell line, as well as of four different human midgut neuroendocrine tumor cell lines. Furthermore, PCR analyses revealed that this subtype of glutamate receptor is expressed in these cell lines. These first results indicate that specific metabotropic glutamate receptor antagonists suppress the proliferation and cell activity of neuroendocrine tumor cells, which makes them possible targets in cancer therapy.

Citation

Helga Susanne Haas, Roswitha Pfragner, Nassim Ghaffari Tabrizi-Wizsy, Katharina Rohrer, Isabella Lueftenegger, Charlotte Horwath, Nathalie Allard, Beate Rinner, Anton Sadjak. The influence of glutamate receptors on proliferation and metabolic cell activity of neuroendocrine tumors. Anticancer research. 2013 Apr;33(4):1267-72