[Topics in mTOR pathway and its inhibitors]

Bull Cancer. 2009 Jan;96(1):87-94. doi: 10.1684/bdc.2009.0807.
[Article in French]

Abstract

PI3K/AKT/mTOR is a cell signalling pathway that plays a major role in regulation of apoptosis, cell growth and cell cycle. This pathway is often disregulated in human cancers, and constitutes an interesting target for antitumor therapy. Rapamycin is an inhibitor of mTOR that has first been developed for its immunosuppressive characteristics, as a preventive treatment of graft rejection. More recently, three rapamycin analogs have been developed, resulting in interesting results in preclinical studies on cancer cell lines : temsirolimus, everolimus, and deforolimus. These molecules are being tested in clinical studies, and both temsirolimus and everolimus have demonstrated efficacy in metastatic renal cancers. In contrast, perfosin, an AKT inhibitor, did not prove to be active in clinical studies. Many ongoing studies explore next indications of these drugs, given alone or in combination with chemotherapy or with other targeted therapy. Identification of predictive factors for sensibility to treatment represents another way of research.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic
  • Clinical Trials, Phase III as Topic
  • Everolimus
  • Humans
  • Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / physiology
  • Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors
  • Protein Kinases / drug effects*
  • Protein Kinases / physiology
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / physiology
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects
  • Sirolimus / analogs & derivatives*
  • Sirolimus / pharmacology
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors
  • ridaforolimus
  • temsirolimus
  • Everolimus
  • Protein Kinases
  • MTOR protein, human
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases
  • Sirolimus