@article{3020469,
    title = "The use of L-glucose in cancer diagnosis: Results from in vitro and in vivo studies",
    author = "Anastasiou, I.A. and Eleftheriadou, I. and Tentolouris, A. and Mourouzis, I. and Pantos, C. and Tentolouris, N.",
    journal = "Current Medicinal Chemistry",
    year = "2021",
    volume = "28",
    number = "30",
    pages = "6110-6122",
    publisher = "Bentham Science Publishers",
    issn = "0929-8673",
    doi = "10.2174/0929867328666210311112240",
    keywords = "glucose, human;  neoplasm, Glucose;  Humans;  Neoplasms",
    abstract = "Background: Cancer cells are characterized by metabolic heterogeneity. Al-though many research groups make efforts to analyze this heterogeneity, little attention has been paid to cancer cells utilizing otherwise unusable substrates as fuel for tumor de-velopment. Of the two stereoisomers of glucose, D-glucose but not L-glucose, the mirror image isomer of D-glucose is abundantly found in nature. D-glucose is the human body's key source of energy through aerobic respiration. However, data from in vitro and in vivo studies examining the ability of cancer cells to take up L-glucose are scarce. Objectives: The present mini-review aims to present current literature data on the role of L-glucose in cancer diagnosis based on in vitro and in vivo studies. Methods: The MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library with restrictions to arti-cles in English language databases were searched to retrieve available data. Results: There are limited data in the literature regarding in vitro and in vivo studies that examined the ability of cancer cells to take up L-glucose. Research work so far has shown that that the binding of a fluorescent detector to an L-glucose molecule produced a fluorescent probe that was specifically taken up by malignant cancer cells, thus provid-ing a unique method for their detection. Conclusion: Given that L-glucose is taken up by cancer cells, L-glucose fluorescent probes can be a useful tool for visualization and characterization of cancer cells. More research on the potential biologic effects of L-glucose in cancer is necessary. © 2021 Bentham Science Publishers."
}