L-Glutamine and Chemotherapy Tolerance in Colorectal Cancer

L-Glutamine and Chemotherapy Tolerance in Colorectal Cancer

Gastrointestinal toxicity, particularly diarrhea, is a common and often dose-limiting side effect of chemotherapy regimens such as FOLFOX in patients with colorectal cancer. Sabry and colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial to evaluate whether supplementation with L-glutamine could reduce treatment-related toxicity and improve clinical outcomes.
In this study, patients with colon cancer receiving modified FOLFOX-6 chemotherapy were randomized to receive either L-glutamine supplementation or standard care. The primary outcomes included the incidence and severity of chemotherapy-induced diarrhea, while secondary outcomes assessed treatment response and overall survival.
The results demonstrated that patients receiving L-glutamine experienced a significant reduction in both the incidence and severity of diarrhea compared with the control group. In addition to improved tolerability, the intervention group showed better treatment response rates and a trend toward improved survival outcomes, suggesting that reducing toxicity may support more effective delivery of chemotherapy.
Although further studies are needed to confirm long-term survival benefits, this randomized trial provides clinically relevant evidence that glutamine-based supplementation may enhance treatment tolerance and potentially improve outcomes in patients undergoing chemotherapy for colorectal cancer.

Reference:

Sabry NM, Naguib TM, Kabel AM, Khafagy E-S, Arab HH, Almorsy WA. Ameliorative potential of L-alanyl L-glutamine dipeptide in colon cancer patients receiving modified FOLFOX-6 regarding the incidence of diarrhea, the treatment response, and patients’ survival: a randomized controlled trial. Medicina (Kaunas). 2022;58(3):394. doi:10.3390/medicina58030394.