Cited by 252PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling in cancerSignaling Pathways in DiseaseAutophagy in Disease and Therapy

Rapamycin: an anti-cancer immunosuppressant?

Law, Brian K.·2005·Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology

Abstract

Rapamycin and its derivatives are promising therapeutic agents with both immunosuppressant and anti-tumor properties. These rapamycin actions are mediated through the specific inhibition of the mTOR protein kinase. mTOR serves as part of an evolutionarily conserved signaling pathway that controls the cell cycle in response to changing nutrient levels. The mTOR signaling network contains a number of tumor suppressor genes including PTEN, LKB1, TSC1, and TSC2, and a number of proto-oncogenes including PI3K, Akt, and eIF4E, and mTOR signaling is constitutively activated in many tumor types. These observations point to mTOR as an ideal target for anti-cancer agents and suggest that rapamycin is such an agent. In fact, early preclinical and clinical studies indicate that rapamycin derivatives have efficacy as anti-tumor agents both alone, and when combined with other modes of therapy. Rapamycin appears to inhibit tumor growth by halting tumor cell proliferation, inducing tumor cell apoptosis, and suppressing tumor angiogenesis. Rapamycin immunosuppressant actions result from the inhibition of T and B cell proliferation through the same mechanisms that rapamycin blocks cancer cell proliferation. Therefore, one might think that rapamycin-induced immunosuppression would be detrimental to the use of rapamycin as an anti-cancer agent. To the contrary, rapamycin decreases the frequency of tumor formation that occurs in organ transplant experiments when combined with the widely used immunosuppressant cyclosporine compared with the tumor incidence observed when cyclosporine is used alone. The available evidence indicates that with respect to tumor growth, rapamycin anti-cancer activities are dominant over rapamycin immunosuppressant effects.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.critrevonc.2004.09.009

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Authors
Law, B. K.
Affiliations
University of Florida (US)
Corresponding author
Law, Brian K.
Venue
Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2005-10
Volume
56
Issue
1
Pages
47-60
ISSN
1040-8428 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2764507256
Cited by
252
References
256
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 10
FWCI
0.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling in cancer
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Signaling Pathways in Disease
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Autophagy in Disease and Therapy
Keywords
rapamycin, mTOR signaling, immunosuppression, anticancer activity, tumor angiogenesis, apoptosis, tumor cell proliferation, cyclosporine, organ transplantation, tumor suppression, PI3K/Akt signaling, TSC1/TSC2, PTEN, LKB1, eIF4E
MeSH terms
Animals, Antineoplastic Agents, Cell Cycle, Drug Synergism, Humans, Immunosuppressive Agents, Neoplasms, Neovascularization, Pathologic, Protein Kinases, Drug Design, Signal Transduction, Molecular Chaperones, Sirolimus, TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases

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