BPTES dosage and evidence
Written by Aaron CuhaReviewed Sep 2026
The short answer
BPTES is the lab tool behind a separate clean-up idea. Worn-out cells use glutamine, a common amino acid, to cancel out their own acid. Block the enzyme that does that, and they die. Shown in mice and in cells. BPTES itself has never been given to a person.
Evidence grade for BPTES: Moderate. The rule: at least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. The sum on this page: 2 completed trials, 513 people given it. A grade counts how much has been done to people, not whether it works.
- People given it
- 513
- Human studies
- 2
- Found nothing
- 0
Dose
No human dose established
Amounts that were given in studies sit in Human evidence on this page. None of them is a personal dose.
2 completed trials, 513 people given it
1 effects reported, 1 unwanted, by people using it, not a trial
Goal pages: Ageing and longevity, Heart and circulation, Immune system and inflammation
In plain English
In plain English, from Aaron
This is how I would explain it to a friend. The evidence, with the numbers, is further down the page.
BPTES is a lab chemical. It blocks an enzyme that worn-out cells use to survive. In mice, that kills worn-out cells. It has never been given to a person and is not approved for anything.
What people take it for
- Clearing worn-out cells.
- Kidney ageing, based on mouse studies.
What studies in people showed
Nobody has been given BPTES. A related pill, telaglenastat, blocks the same enzyme. In 444 people with kidney cancer, it did not slow the cancer. In old mice, blocking this enzyme killed worn-out cells and eased age-related organ and kidney problems.
What people report
Reports, not study results
The good
- We have not collected user reports on this one yet.
The bad
- In the cancer studies of the related drug telaglenastat, serious side effects hit most people in both groups.
Where these come from: The side effect point is from the telaglenastat studies on this page. We have no forum reports for this one.
My bottom line
Interesting mouse biology. Not a medicine. Nobody should be taking a lab chemical that has never been in a person.
An opinion, not a finding. I am a coach, not a doctor.
What it has been measured to do
Measured in people
Goals BPTES has been tested for in people, biggest studies first. We count only what the studies on this page say, so the real numbers may be higher.
- Living longer513 people · 2 studies
- Cancer and tumours513 people · 2 studies
- Kidney function444 people · 1 study
33 of the 36 indexed goals have no study of any kind behind BPTES
No study in people, animals or cells on this page reports a result for these. That does not prove BPTES does nothing for them. It does mean anything you have heard about BPTES and one of these did not come from a study cited here.
Show full evidence
What is BPTES?
BPTES is the lab tool behind a separate clean-up idea. Worn-out cells use glutamine, a common amino acid, to cancel out their own acid. Block the enzyme that does that, and they die. Shown in mice and in cells. BPTES itself has never been given to a person.
Nobody has been given BPTES. It is a lab chemical that does not work well as a medicine. That is why the work in people was done with telaglenastat, a pill that blocks the same enzyme. Telaglenastat went into cancer studies. In the biggest, 444 people with advanced kidney cancer, it did not help. No clean-up drug has improved health in a proper study in people, and this route has never been tested on worn-out cells in a person.
The idea came from a 2021 paper in Science, in mice and in cells. Worn-out cells have leaky internal compartments, which makes the inside of the cell more acidic. To survive, they switch on an enzyme called glutaminase. It breaks down glutamine and makes ammonia, which cancels out the acid. Block the enzyme, and the cell loses its buffer. In old mice, blocking it killed worn-out cells and eased age-related organ problems.
BPTES is the chemical used to block it in these studies. In worn-out human kidney cells in a dish, and in old mice, BPTES killed worn-out kidney cells by overloading their power plants. It eased age-related kidney disease in the mice. In stem cells worn out by being grown too long in a dish, a short dose of BPTES cut signs of wear and got the cells growing again. Those treated cells then helped muscle in mice with a muscle-wasting disease.
How does BPTES work?
Shown in human cells and mice: worn-out cells have leaky internal compartments, which makes the cell more acidic inside. They switch on the glutaminase enzyme, which makes ammonia to cancel out the acid. BPTES blocks that enzyme. In worn-out kidney cells, this then overloads the cell's power plants, and the cell dies. Nobody knows if any of this is true of worn-out cells in a living person.
What have studies in people found about BPTES?
None for BPTES. Nobody has been given it in a published study, and no study is registered. The data in people on blocking this enzyme come from telaglenastat, a different drug, in cancer patients.
What this does not tell you: Because nobody has taken BPTES, nobody knows how the body handles it, what dose people can take, or what else it hits. Glutamine is not only used by worn-out cells. What blocking this enzyme across the whole body does over months has only been looked at in cancer studies of a different drug. In those, serious side effects were common in both groups.
The state of the research
The glutamine idea works differently from the BCL-2 clean-up drugs, and that is what makes it interesting. It says worn-out cells depend on a fuel trick, not on blocking their own death signal. The Science paper is strong mouse and cell work. Later mouse work followed it in the kidney and in stem cells.
None of it is in people. The drug that could test the idea in people, telaglenastat, went into cancer. Its main study missed its goal. Nobody has run a study of an enzyme blocker like this against worn-out cells in a person, and BPTES is not the drug that will do it.
The evidence, in charts
Fig. 1a · how many people
513people, across 2 studies in people cited here
| Study | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| JAMA Oncology 2022 | 444 | 87% |
| Clinical Cancer Research 2022 | 69 | 13% |
One study holds 87% of these people, so the total rests more on one study than its size suggests. Counts are the number of people each study on this page says it signed up. That includes studies that only watched people and gave nobody the compound. Studies still signing people up are left out, and only studies cited on this page are counted.
Fig. 1b · evidence mix
2 of 5 sources here are studies in people. The rest are not.
- Study in people · done in people240%
- Animal study · done in animals360%
Counted from the list of sources on this page. It counts only what we cite, so there may be more studies out there. A review counts once, however many studies it sums up.
Fig. 2 · evidence over time
The studies cover 4 different years, 2021 to 2025, counted from the list of sources on this page.
Fig. 3 · legal status at a glance
US
Not approved
UK
Not approved
AU
Not approved
CA
Not approved
Not approved in any of the four countries shown. This is what the law says, not a verdict on the science. See Legal status below for the full text and any notes.
Fig. 4 · how much does what
Nobody has tested different amounts in people
This chart would show how the effect changes as the amount goes up. For this compound, nobody has measured that in people. So we leave it empty. We will not borrow an animal chart and pretend it works the same in people.
Fig. 5 · what the molecule is
- Kind of compound
- Small molecule
- Molecule weight
- Not on file
- Half-life
- None on file
- Chain length
- None on file
No amino acid sequence is on file for BPTES, which is expected: a small molecule is not built from amino acids.
The studies we cite
- Study in people2022Efficacy and Safety of Telaglenastat Plus Cabozantinib vs Placebo Plus Cabozantinib in Patients With Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma: The CANTATA Randomized Clinical Trial
The only proper test of blocking this enzyme in people found nothing. 444 adults with advanced kidney cancer got telaglenastat plus the cancer drug cabozantinib, or a dummy pill plus cabozantinib. Both groups went about 9.2 and 9.3 months before their cancer grew again. That is the same result twice. Telaglenastat is a different drug from BPTES, but it hits the same target, and this is cancer medicine, not ageing. The maker paid for the study.
The only randomised human data on glutaminase inhibition. 444 patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Median progression-free survival 9.2 months with telaglenastat plus cabozantinib versus 9.3 months with placebo plus cabozantinib, hazard ratio 0.94, P = 0.65. Manufacturer funded. Oncology, not senescence.
- Study in people2022Telaglenastat plus Everolimus in Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Randomized, Double-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled, Phase II ENTRATA Trial
A smaller study leaned toward the drug without settling anything. 69 adults with advanced kidney cancer got telaglenastat or a dummy pill, both along with the cancer drug everolimus. Two got the drug for every one on the dummy pill. Cancer took 3.8 months to grow again on the drug, against 1.9 months. The bar for success was set loose, so this would not count as proof elsewhere. Serious side effects hit 74 percent against 61 percent. The maker paid for it.
69 patients randomised 2:1. Median progression-free survival 3.8 months versus 1.9 months, hazard ratio 0.64, one-sided P = 0.079 against a pre-specified one-sided alpha below 0.2. Grade 3 to 4 events in 74 percent versus 61 percent. Manufacturer funded.
- Animal study2021Senolysis by glutaminolysis inhibition ameliorates various age-associated disorders
In mice and in human cells in a dish. Worn-out human cells needed the glutaminase enzyme to survive. Leaky internal compartments make them acidic inside, and the enzyme makes ammonia that cancels the acid out. Blocking it in old mice killed worn-out cells and eased age-related organ problems.
Human cells and mice. GLS1 was identified as essential for the survival of human senescent cells: lysosomal damage lowers intracellular pH, inducing kidney-type glutaminase, whose ammonia production neutralises the acidity. Inhibiting it in aged mice eliminated senescent cells specifically and ameliorated age-associated organ dysfunction.
- Animal study2025Senolysis by GLS1 Inhibition Ameliorates Kidney Aging by Inducing Excessive mPTP Opening Through MFN1
In mice and in a dish. In human kidney cells worn out in a dish, and in old mice, BPTES killed worn-out kidney cells by overloading their power plants. It eased age-related kidney disease in the mice.
Human HK-2 kidney cells made senescent with d-galactose, plus aged mice. BPTES eliminated senescent tubular cells through mitofusin 1 upregulation and excessive mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening, and ameliorated age-associated kidney disease in the mice.
- Animal study2024Glutaminase-1 inhibition alleviates senescence of Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells via senolysis
In a dish and in mice. Stem cells from umbilical cord tissue were worn out by growing them too long. A short dose of BPTES cut signs of wear and got them growing again. In mice with a muscle-wasting disease, the treated cells helped build muscle and cut scarring.
Human Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem cells in culture, plus mdx mice. Short-term BPTES reduced p16, p21 and senescence-associated secretory genes and restored proliferation; the treated cells enhanced muscle formation and reduced fibrosis in the mice.
Common questions
Has BPTES been tested in people?
Yes. 513 people given it across 2 completed trials cited here, 0 of which found nothing. BPTES is the lab tool behind a separate clean-up idea. Worn-out cells use glutamine, a common amino acid, to cancel out their own acid. Block the enzyme that does that, and they die. Shown in mice and in cells. BPTES itself has never been given to a person.
What is the BPTES dosage?
No human dose established. Amounts that were given in studies sit in Human evidence on this page. None of them is a personal dose. 2 completed trials, 513 people given it
Is BPTES FDA-approved?
Not approved, and not being developed for people. Animal or lab only, with no registered human study. A related drug of the same type that works as a pill, telaglenastat, reached cancer studies in people and is also unapproved.
Has BPTES been given to humans?
No. No published study has given it to a person, and no study is registered. It is a lab tool.
Why would blocking glutaminase kill senescent cells?
Because of an acid problem. Worn-out cells have leaky internal compartments and are more acidic inside. They switch on an enzyme called glutaminase, which breaks down glutamine to make ammonia and cancel out the acid. Take away that buffer, and they die. This was shown in human cells in a dish and in old mice.
Is there a version of this drug that people have taken?
Telaglenastat, a pill that blocks the same enzyme, has been given to hundreds of cancer patients in proper studies. In the main one, 444 people with kidney cancer, it did not slow the cancer. No study of an enzyme blocker like this has looked at worn-out cells in a person.