Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

Folate transporter offers clues for anticancer drugs

Structural insights into a long-studied folate-transport protein provide evidence that might lead to entirely new targeted anticancer treatments, or boost the success of immunotherapy approaches to tackling tumours.
  1. Larry H. Matherly

    1. Larry H. Matherly is at the Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48201, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Zhanjun Hou

    1. Zhanjun Hou is at the Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48201, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

The transport protein SLC19A1, better known as the reduced folate carrier, resides in the cell membrane. It has been studied for decades because it is the main tissue transporter of the B9 vitamins (called folates), which are required for reactions needed to make certain types of nucleotide and to make the amino-acid residues serine and methionine1. SLC19A1 also happens to be the main transporter of the drugs methotrexate and pemetrexed — which are called antifolates, because they block the action of folates. These drugs are used in the treatment of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis1. In 2019, a new role for SLC19A1 was identified, as a transporter of signalling molecules called cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs), which stimulate a wide range of immune-system cellular responses2,3.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 612, 39-41 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03767-5

References

  1. Matherly, L. H., Hou, Z. & Deng, Y. Cancer Metast. Rev. 26, 111–128 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Luteijn, R. D. et al. Nature 573, 434–438 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Ritchie, C., Cordova, A. F., Hess, G. T., Bassik, M. C. & Li, L. Mol. Cell 75, 372–381 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Zhang, Q. et al. Nature 612, 170–176 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Wright, N. J. et al. Nature 609, 1056–1062 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Hopfner, K.-P. & Hornung, V. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 21, 501–521 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Demaria, O. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 15408–15413 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Qiu, A. et al. Cell 127, 917–928 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Matherly, L. H., Schneider, M., Gangjee, A. & Hou, Z. Expert Opin. Drug Metab. Toxicol. 18, 695–706 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Parker, J. L. et al. Nature 595, 130–134 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links