A quantitative transcriptomic analysis of the physiological significance of mTOR signaling in goat fetal fibroblasts

mTOR Signalling Pathway: A Potential Therapeutic Target for Ocular Neurodegenerative Diseases

Recent advances in the research of the mammalian target of the rapamycin (mTOR) signalling pathway demonstrated that mTOR is a robust therapeutic target for ocular degenerative diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR), and glaucoma. Although the exact mechanisms of individual ocular degenerative diseases are unclear, they share several common pathological processes, increased and prolonged oxidative stress in particular, which leads to functional and morphological impairment in photoreceptors, retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), or retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). mTOR not only modulates oxidative stress but is also affected by reactive oxygen species (ROS) activation. It is essential to understand the complicated relationship between the mTOR pathway and oxidative stress before its application in the treatment of retinal degeneration. Indeed, the substantial role of mTOR-mediated autophagy in the pathogenies of ocular degenerative diseases should be noted. In reviewing the latest studies, this article summarised the application of rapamycin, an mTOR signalling pathway inhibitor, in different retinal disease models, providing insight into the mechanism of rapamycin in the treatment of retinal neurodegeneration under oxidative stress. Besides basic research, this review also summarised and updated the results of the latest clinical trials of rapamycin in ocular neurodegenerative diseases. In combining the current basic and clinical research results, we provided a more complete picture of mTOR as a potential therapeutic target for ocular neurodegenerative diseases.

HER2-PI9 and HER2-I12: two novel and functionally active splice variants of the oncogene HER2 in breast cancer

In this study, two novel alternative splice variants of HER2, named HER2-PI9 and HER2-I12, were identified in breast cancer cell lines and breast tumour tissues. Whilst HER2-P19 arises from the inclusion of an 117 bp cassette-exon of intron 9 of HER2, HER2-I12 results from intron 12 inclusion. In silico analyses were performed to predict the amino acid sequences of these two HER2 novel variants. To confirm their protein expression, plasmid vectors were generated and transfected into the HER2 negative breast cancer cell line, MCF-7. Additionally, their functional properties in oncogenic signalling were confirmed. Expression of HER2-PI9 and HER2-I12 was successful and matched the in silico predictions. Importantly, these splice variants can modulate the phosphorylation levels of extracellular signal-related kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and Akt/protein kinase B (Akt) signalling in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Enhanced cellular proliferation, migration and invasion were observed in the case of the HER2-I12 expressing model. In human tissues and breast carcinoma tumours both variants were present. This study reveals two novel splice variants of HER2. Additionally, the potential biological activity for HER2-PI9 and HER2-I12 in breast cancer cells is also reported..

A Systems Biology Roadmap to Decode mTOR Control System in Cancer

Mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a critical protein in the regulation of cell fate decision making, especially in cancer cells. mTOR acts as a signal integrator and is one of the main elements of interactions among the pivotal cellular processes such as cell death, autophagy, metabolic reprogramming, cell growth, and cell cycle. The temporal control of these processes is essential for the cellular homeostasis and dysregulation of mTOR signaling pathway results in different phenotypes, including aging, oncogenesis, cell survival, cell growth, senescence, quiescence, and cell death. In this paper, we have proposed a systems biology roadmap to study mTOR control system, which introduces the theoretical and experimental modalities to decode temporal and dynamical characteristics of mTOR signaling in cancer.