Prevention of chemotherapy and radiation toxicity with glutamine.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative literature review covering both human and animal studies
PubMed 14585260 · doi:10.1016/s0305-7372(03)00133-6
What was done
The authors conducted a literature review searching MEDLINE (1980–2003) and bibliographies for English-language human and animal studies evaluating glutamine supplementation to reduce chemotherapy- and radiation-induced toxicities in cancer.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical values, effect sizes, or counts. It qualitatively notes that glutamine may decrease the incidence and severity of chemotherapy-associated mucositis, irinotecan-associated diarrhea, paclitaxel-induced neuropathy, hepatic veno-occlusive disease in stem cell transplantation, and anthracycline-related cardiotoxicity.
Why it matters
If validated, glutamine offers an inexpensive oral strategy to mitigate adverse effects of cytotoxic treatments and help maintain intended dose intensity.
Limits
The abstract reports no quantitative data, sample sizes, or study counts. It aggregates animal and human studies without systematic risk-of-bias evaluation, and phase III placebo-controlled trials were lacking at the time of publication.
Cited by
- supports Glutamine supplementation is used in oncology to help patients recover from and combat the side effects of chemotherapy.