Effect of glutamine on lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma, especially on the viewpoint of the differentiation into vulnerable subpopulation.

Glutamine (Gln) is important not only for cell proliferation but also for differentiation. Although Gln is essential for plasmacytic differentiation of lymphocytes, no study has been done on the effect of Gln on differentiation of tumor cells, such as lymphoma. Here we examined the effect of Gln on plasmacytic differentiation of lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma (LPL) with its cell lines, MWCL-1 and RPCI-WM1. Gln promoted plasmacytic differentiation of LPL, and p38 MAPK signaling pathway mediated such differentiation. We previously reported that the subpopulation with plasmacytic differentiation was vulnerable to apoptosis in LPL. Although it is difficult to lead these findings to the radical therapy, they might help the treatment of LPL, in which stimulation of p38 MAPK by Gln induced differentiation of LPL into vulnerable subpopulation.