Cited by 289PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling in cancerMetabolism, Diabetes, and CancerCancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism

Insulin–PI3K signalling: an evolutionarily insulated metabolic driver of cancer

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Hopkins, Benjamin D., Goncalves, Marcus D., Cantley, Lewis C.·2020·Nature Reviews Endocrinology

Abstract

Cancer is driven by incremental changes that accumulate, eventually leading to oncogenic transformation. Although genetic alterations dominate the way cancer biologists think about oncogenesis, growing evidence suggests that systemic factors (for example, insulin, oestrogen and inflammatory cytokines) and their intracellular pathways activate oncogenic signals and contribute to targetable phenotypes. Systemic factors can have a critical role in both tumour initiation and therapeutic responses as increasingly targeted and personalized therapeutic regimens are used to treat patients with cancer. The endocrine system controls cell growth and metabolism by providing extracellular cues that integrate systemic nutrient status with cellular activities such as proliferation and survival via the production of metabolites and hormones such as insulin. When insulin binds to its receptor, it initiates a sequence of phosphorylation events that lead to activation of the catalytic activity of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), a lipid kinase that coordinates the intake and utilization of glucose, and mTOR, a kinase downstream of PI3K that stimulates transcription and translation. When chronically activated, the PI3K pathway can drive malignant transformation. Here, we discuss the insulin-PI3K signalling cascade and emphasize its roles in normal cells (including coordinating cell metabolism and growth), highlighting the features of this network that make it ideal for co-option by cancer cells. Furthermore, we discuss how this signalling network can affect therapeutic responses and how novel metabolic-based strategies might enhance treatment efficacy for cancer.

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Crossref · 10.1038/s41574-020-0329-9

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  • Aberrant functions of different PLCs and PI3Ks in disease development are well established.

    “Although not covered in this review, the importance of aberrant functions of different PLCs and PI3Ks in disease development is well established and continues to expand [11,62,67,72,134–138].”

    From Phosphatidylinositol(4,5)bisphosphate: diverse functions at the plasma membrane (2020) · cites this paper as [67]

    The section “Regulation of cellular growth and metabolism” (page unavailable) links altered PI3K activity and mutations in PI3K components to cancers, overgrowth syndromes, and SHORT syndrome. The passages retrieved do not address aberrant PLC function, so the source supports the PI3K part of the claim but not the PLC part. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • p110α heterodimers play a key role in glucose homeostasis and in insulin and growth factor signalling.

    “p110α heterodimers play a key role in glucose homeostasis and in insulin and growth factor signalling [65–67].”

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Authors
Hopkins, B. D., Goncalves, M. D., & Cantley, L. C.
Affiliations
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
  • Weill Cornell Medicine (US)
Corresponding author
Hopkins, Benjamin D.
Venue
Nature Reviews Endocrinology
Published
2020-03-03
Volume
16
Issue
5
Pages
276-283
ISSN
  • 1759-5029 (ISSN-L)
  • 1759-5037
OpenAlex
W3009258273
Cited by
288
References
78
Citations by year
2026: 34 · 2025: 50 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 45 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 20
FWCI
3.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Reviews Endocrinology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Cancer Institute (K08CA230318, R00CA230384, R35CA197588)
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 › Metabolism, Diabetes, and Cancer
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism
Keywords
insulin signaling, PI3K signaling, mTOR, oncogenic transformation, cancer metabolism, insulin resistance, insulin receptor, cancer therapy resistance, metabolic targeting, tumor initiation
MeSH terms
Animals, Endocrine System, Biological Evolution, Humans, Insulin, Neoplasms, Signal Transduction, Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases

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