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Query: UNIPROT:P42345 (mTOR)
 26,049 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The emerging anti-cancer approach is based on combining a 'traditional' cytotoxic drug with a 'signaling' blocking agent. Such combination, if designed and applied properly, may increase selectivity towards tumor cells. The use of such combinations requires smart planning and choice of the drugs to be combined, their proper dosing as well as correct sequence and schedule of application. The combination of the anti-metabolite gemcitabine and the mTOR blocker, rapamycin, has achieved an impressive response in a patient with metastatic leiomyosarcoma.
Int J Mol Med 2004 Nov
PMID:Targeting metastatic leiomyosarcoma by rapamycin plus gemcitabine: an intriguing clinical observation. 1549 68

Cells have several sensory systems that detect energy and metabolic status and adjust flux through metabolic pathways accordingly. Many of these sensors and signaling pathways are conserved from yeast to mammals. In this review, we bring together information about five different nutrient-sensing pathways (AMP kinase, mTOR, PAS kinase, hexosamine biosynthesis and Sir2), highlighting their similarities, differences and roles in disease.
Comp Biochem Physiol B Biochem Mol Biol 2004 Dec
PMID:Nutrient sensing and metabolic decisions. 1558 87

Whereas most mammalian cells require extracellular signals to suppress apoptosis, preimplantation embryos can survive and develop to the blastocyst stage in defined medium without added serum or growth factors. Since cells of these embryos are capable of undergoing apoptosis, it has been suggested that their lack of dependence upon exogenous growth factors results from the production of endogenous growth factors that suppress apoptosis by an autocrine signaling mechanism. In the present study, we have examined the growth factor requirements and intracellular signaling pathways that suppress apoptosis in both mouse preimplantation embryos and embryonic stem (ES) cells, which are derived from the blastocyst inner cell mass. Cultured ES cells, in contrast to intact embryos, required serum growth factors to prevent apoptosis. Suppression of ES cell apoptosis by serum growth factors required the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) signaling pathway, since apoptosis was rapidly induced by inhibition of PI 3-kinase with LY294002. In contrast, inhibition of MEK/ERK signaling with U0126 or of mTOR with rapamycin had no detectable effect on ES cell survival. Thus, like most mammalian cells, the survival of ES cells is mediated by growth factor stimulation of PI 3-kinase signaling. Treatment with LY294002 (but not with U0126 or rapamycin) similarly induced apoptosis of mouse blastocysts in serum-free medium, indicating that intact preimplantation embryos are also dependent upon PI 3-kinase signaling for survival. These results demonstrate that PI 3-kinase signaling is required to suppress apoptosis of both ES cells and intact preimplantation embryos, consistent with the hypothesis that survival of preimplantation embryos is maintained by endogenous growth factors that stimulate the PI 3-kinase pathway.
Mol Reprod Dev 2005 Mar
PMID:Mouse embryonic stem cells and preimplantation embryos require signaling through the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway to suppress apoptosis. 1562 1

Chemotherapeutic agents induce apoptosis in cancer cells through effects on multiple intracellular targets. Recent observations suggest that a consistent cellular response to chemotherapeutic agents of disparate classes is down-regulation of glycolytic metabolism. Inhibition of glycolytic activity has been linked to apoptotic induction in several models. The serine/threonine kinase Akt (protein kinase B) promotes both glycolytic metabolism and survival, and these functions have been shown to be linked. Because of its key role in both glycolysis and survival, we examined the function of Akt in the cellular response to cytotoxic agents. Following exposure to any of several chemotherapeutic agents, an initial up-regulation in endogenous Akt activity is rapidly suppressed. Using cells containing constitutively active myristoylated Akt, dominant-negative kinase-dead Akt, or an empty vector control, we show here that Akt activation markedly increases resistance to microtubule-directed agents, including vincristine, colchicine, and paclitaxel. Akt also maintains increased glycolytic rate in response to antimicrotubule treatment. Rapamycin inhibits Akt-mediated maintenance of glycolysis and therapeutic resistance, indicating that these effects are dependent on mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Furthermore, an activated mTOR mutant confers resistance to antimicrotubule agents. Taken together, these observations suggest that activation of the Akt-mTOR signaling pathway can augment glucose utilization and promote resistance to chemotherapeutic agents that do not directly target metabolic regulation. These data provide insight into potentially synergistic combinations of anticancer therapies.
Mol Cancer Ther 2004 Dec
PMID:Akt up-regulation increases resistance to microtubule-directed chemotherapeutic agents through mammalian target of rapamycin. 1563 54

Malignant gliomas are highly lethal tumors that display striking genetic heterogeneity. Novel therapies that inhibit a single molecular target may slow tumor progression, but tumors are likely not dependent on a signal transduction pathway. Rather, malignant gliomas exhibit sustained mitogenesis and cell growth mediated in part through the effects of receptor tyrosine kinases and the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). AEE788 is a novel orally active tyrosine kinase inhibitor that decreases the kinase activity associated with the epidermal growth factor receptor and, at higher concentrations, the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (kinase domain region). RAD001 (everolimus) is an orally available mTOR inhibitor structurally related to rapamycin. We hypothesized that combined inhibition of upstream epidermal growth factor receptor and kinase domain region receptors with AEE788 and inhibition of the downstream mTOR pathway with RAD001 would result in increased efficacy against gliomas compared with single-agent therapy. In vitro experiments showed that the combination of AEE788 and RAD001 resulted in increased rates of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis and reduced proliferation more than either agent alone. Combined AEE788 and RAD001 given orally to athymic mice bearing established human malignant glioma tumor xenografts resulted in greater tumor growth inhibition and greater increases in median survival than monotherapy. These studies suggest that simultaneous inhibition of growth factor receptor and mTOR pathways offer increased benefit in glioma therapy.
Mol Cancer Ther 2005 Jan
PMID:Combination therapy of inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptor/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (AEE788) and the mammalian target of rapamycin (RAD001) offers improved glioblastoma tumor growth inhibition. 1565 58

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), a transcription factor composed of two subunits (HIF-1alpha and HIF-1beta), initially described as a mediator of adaptive responses to changes in tissue oxygenation, has been shown to be activated in an oxygen-independent manner. In this report, we studied the action of IGF-I on the regulation of HIF-1 in human retinal epithelial cells. We show that IGF-I stimulates HIF-1alpha accumulation, HIF-1alpha nuclear translocation, and HIF-1 activity by regulation of HIF-1alpha expression through a posttranscriptional mechanism. In addition, we demonstrate that IGF-I stimulates HIF-1 activity through phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/ mammalian target of rapamycin and MAPK-dependent signaling pathways leading to VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) mRNA expression. Three human prolyl-hydroxylases PHD-1, -2, and -3 (PHD-containing protein) and an asparaginyl-hydroxylase factor inhibiting HIF-1, which regulate HIF-1alpha stability and HIF-1 activity in response to hypoxia, have been described. Our analysis of their mRNA expression showed a different magnitude and time course of expression pattern in response to insulin and IGF-I compared with CoCl(2). Taken together, our data reveal that growth factors and CoCl(2), which mimics hypoxia, lead to HIF-1 activation and ensuing VEGF expression by different mechanisms. Their joined actions are likely to lead to an important and sustained increase in VEGF action on retinal blood vessels, and hence to have devastating effects on the development of diabetic retinopathy.
Mol Endocrinol 2005 May
PMID:Regulation of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1 activity and expression of HIF hydroxylases in response to insulin-like growth factor I. 1569 72

Studies of Drosophila and mammals have revealed the importance of insulin signaling through phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and the serine/threonine kinase Akt/protein kinase B for the regulation of cell, organ, and organismal growth. In mammals, three highly conserved proteins, Akt1, Akt2, and Akt3, comprise the Akt family, of which the first two are required for normal growth and metabolism, respectively. Here we address the function of Akt3. Like Akt1, Akt3 is not required for the maintenance of normal carbohydrate metabolism but is essential for the attainment of normal organ size. However, in contrast to Akt1-/- mice, which display a proportional decrease in the sizes of all organs, Akt3-/- mice present a selective 20% decrease in brain size. Moreover, although Akt1- and Akt3-deficient brains are reduced in size to approximately the same degree, the absence of Akt1 leads to a reduction in cell number, whereas the lack of Akt3 results in smaller and fewer cells. Finally, mammalian target of rapamycin signaling is attenuated in the brains of Akt3-/- but not Akt1-/- mice, suggesting that differential regulation of this pathway contributes to an isoform-specific regulation of cell growth.
Mol Cell Biol 2005 Mar
PMID:Role for Akt3/protein kinase Bgamma in attainment of normal brain size. 1571 41

Recent studies indicate that dysregulation of the Akt/PKB family of serine/threonine kinases is a prominent feature of many human cancers. The Akt/PKB family is composed of three members termed Akt1/PKBalpha, Akt2/PKBbeta, and Akt3/PKBgamma. It is currently not known to what extent there is functional overlap between these family members. We have recently identified small molecule inhibitors of Akt. These compounds have pleckstrin homology domain-dependent, isozyme-specific activity. In this report, we present data showing the relative contribution that inhibition of the different isozymes has on the apoptotic response of tumor cells to a variety of chemotherapies. In multiple cell backgrounds, maximal induction of caspase-3 activity is achieved when both Akt1 and Akt2 are inhibited. This induction is not reversed by overexpression of functionally active Akt3. The level of caspase-3 activation achieved under these conditions is equivalent to that observed with the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase inhibitor LY294002. We also show that in different tumor cell backgrounds inhibition of mammalian target of rapamycin, a downstream substrate of Akt, is less effective in inducing caspase-3 activity than inhibition of Akt1 and Akt2. This shows that the survival phenotype conferred by Akt can be mediated by signaling pathways independent of mammalian target of rapamycin in some tumor cell backgrounds. Finally, we show that inhibition of both Akt1 and Akt2 selectively sensitizes tumor cells, but not normal cells, to apoptotic stimuli.
Mol Cancer Ther 2005 Feb
PMID:Tumor cell sensitization to apoptotic stimuli by selective inhibition of specific Akt/PKB family members. 1571 98

Interactions between the protein kinase C and Chk1 inhibitor UCN-01 and rapamycin in human leukemia cells have been investigated in relation to apoptosis induction. Treatment of U937 monocytic leukemia cells with rapamycin (10 nmol/L) in conjunction with a minimally toxic concentration of UCN-01 (100 nmol/L) for 36 hours resulted in marked potentiation of mitochondrial injury (i.e., loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and cytosolic release of cytochrome c, AIF, and Smac/DIABLO), caspase activation, and apoptosis. The release of cytochrome c, AIF, and Smac/DIABLO were inhibited by BOC-D-fmk, indicating that their release was caspase dependent. These events were associated with marked down-regulation of Raf-1, MEK, and ERK phosphorylation, diminished Akt activation, and enhanced phosphorylation of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK). Coadministration of UCN-01 and rapamycin reduced the expression levels of the antiapoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family Mcl-1 and Bcl-xL and diminished the expression of cyclin D1 and p34(cdc2). Furthermore, enforced expression of a constitutively active MEK1 or, to a lesser extent, myristoylated Akt construct partially but significantly attenuated UCN-01/rapamycin-mediated lethality in both U937 and Jurkat cell systems. Finally, inhibition of the stress-related JNK by SP600125 or by the expression of a dominant-negative mutant of c-Jun significantly attenuated apoptosis induced by rapamycin/UCN-01. Together, these findings indicate that the mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor potentiates UCN-01 cytotoxicity in a variety of human leukemia cell types and suggest that inhibition of both Raf-1/MEK/ERK and Akt cytoprotective signaling pathways as well as JNK activation contribute to this phenomenon.
Mol Cancer Ther 2005 Mar
PMID:Rapamycin and UCN-01 synergistically induce apoptosis in human leukemia cells through a process that is regulated by the Raf-1/MEK/ERK, Akt, and JNK signal transduction pathways. 1576 55

Signaling through the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) controls cell size and growth as well as other functions, and it is a potential therapeutic target for graft rejection, certain cancers, and disorders characterized by inappropriate cell or tissue growth. mTOR signaling is positively regulated by hormones or growth factors and amino acids. mTOR signaling regulates the phosphorylation of several proteins, the best characterized being ones that control mRNA translation. Eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1 (4E-BP1) undergoes phosphorylation at multiple sites. Here we show that amino acids regulate the N-terminal phosphorylation sites in 4E-BP1 through the RAIP motif in a rapamycin-insensitive manner. Several criteria indicate this reflects a rapamycin-insensitive output from mTOR. In contrast, the insulin-stimulated phosphorylation of the C-terminal site Ser64/65 is generally sensitive to rapamycin, as is phosphorylation of another well-characterized target for mTOR signaling, S6K1. Our data imply that it is unlikely that mTOR directly phosphorylates Thr69/70 in 4E-BP1. Although 4E-BP1 and S6K1 bind the mTOR partner, raptor, our data indicate that the outputs from mTOR to 4E-BP1 and S6K1 are distinct. In cells, efficient phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 requires it to be able to bind to eIF4E, whereas phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 by mTOR in vitro shows no such preference. These data have important implications for understanding signaling downstream of mTOR and the development of new strategies to impair mTOR signaling.
Mol Cell Biol 2005 Apr
PMID:Distinct signaling events downstream of mTOR cooperate to mediate the effects of amino acids and insulin on initiation factor 4E-binding proteins. 1576 63


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