Dietary glutamine to prevent and treat melanoma
Official title: Using dietary glutamine supplementation for melanoma prevention and targeted therapy
Funded at University of California-Irvine · NIH-11113916 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Researchers are looking at whether adding glutamine to the diet can slow melanoma growth and help treatments work better for people with melanoma.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California-Irvine NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Irvine, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2021 |
| Project end | June 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $424,991 |
| NIH project number | 5R01CA244360-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11113916 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates would be people with melanoma who are interested in metabolic or dietary approaches and who might be willing to enroll in related clinical trials at the research center.
✕Less likely to help
People without melanoma or whose tumors do not depend on glutamine metabolism, and those who cannot safely increase dietary amino acids, are unlikely to benefit.
What this research studies
This project explores whether increasing dietary glutamine can change melanoma cell metabolism and make tumors less aggressive and more sensitive to therapy. The team uses metabolomic analysis and patient-derived tumor grafts (PDX) in preclinical models to measure tumoral α-ketoglutarate, histone methylation, gene expression, and tumor growth after dietary supplementation. Early results showed that a high-glutamine diet raised tumoral α-ketoglutarate, lowered histone methylation, reduced expression of melanoma-related oncogenes, and slowed tumor growth in PDX models. The goal is to produce molecular evidence that could support dietary strategies or future clinical trials for melanoma patients.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could slow melanoma growth and make standard treatments more effective by changing tumor metabolism.
How similar studies have gone: Preclinical and PDX studies have shown promising signals for this approach, but there is little to no clinical trial evidence in humans yet.
Where this research is happening
-
University of California-Irvine
Irvine, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kong, Mei — University of California-Irvine
- Study coordinator: Kong, Mei
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.