Next-generation mTOR inhibitors in clinical oncology: how pathway complexity informs therapeutic strategy.

Seth A Wander, Bryan T Hennessy, Joyce M Slingerland

Journal: The Journal of clinical investigation 2011;121(4):1231-41

PMID: 21490404

Free Full Text on American Society for Clinical Investigation View on PubMed

Abstract

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a PI3K-related kinase that regulates cell growth, proliferation, and survival via mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) and mTORC2. The mTOR pathway is often aberrantly activated in cancers. While hypoxia, nutrient deprivation, and DNA damage restrain mTORC1 activity, multiple genetic events constitutively activate mTOR in cancers. Here we provide a brief overview of the signaling pathways up- and downstream of mTORC1 and -2, and discuss the insights into therapeutic anticancer targets - both those that have been tried in the clinic with limited success and those currently under clinical development - that knowledge of these pathways gives us.

Address: Braman Family Breast Cancer Institute, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida 33136, USA.

DOI: 10.1172/JCI44145