Abstract: Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, G6PD) is the rate-limiting enzyme of pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), which mainly maintains the balance of NADPH and intracellular redox reaction. Reducing G6PD activity or PPP dysfunction can prevent normal cell proliferation, and severe lack of G6PD can damage embryonic development and delay organ growth. At present, many studies have proved that abnormal activation of G6PD can lead to the enhancement of cell proliferation and adaptability of various types of cancer, and it is easy to cause drug resistance and increase the difficulty of clinical treatment. It has become an urgent need for clinical treatment to study the mechanism of G6PD in cancer cells and identify new potential drug therapeutic targets.

Key words: glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), redox reduction, cancer, cell death, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase inhibitor