Arginase: An emerging and promising therapeutic target for cancer treatment

作者：Fanglin Niu, Yi Yu, Zhuozhuo Li, Yuanyuan Ren, Zi Li, Qiang Ye, Ping Liu, Chenshuang Ji, Qian Lü, Yuyan Xiong · 发表于：Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1016/j.biopha.2022.112840 · 被引用次数：184 · 研究领域：Amino Acid Enzymes and Metabolism、Cancer Research and Treatments、Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism

Arginase is a key hydrolase in the urea cycle that hydrolyses L-arginine to urea and L-ornithine. Increasing number of studies in recent years demonstrate that two mammalian arginase isoforms, arginase 1 (ARG1) and arginase 2 (ARG2), were aberrantly upregulated in various types of cancers, and played crucial roles in the regulation of tumor growth and metastasis through various mechanisms such as regulating L-arginine metabolism, influencing tumor immune microenvironment, etc. Thus, arginase receives increasing focus as an attractive target for cancer therapy. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the physiological and biological roles of arginase in a variety of cancers, and shed light on the underlying mechanisms of arginase mediating cancer cells growth and development, as well as summarize the recent clinical research advances of targeting arginase for cancer therapy.