Role of mTOR signaling pathway in acute myeloid leukemia

The mammals target protein of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway is crucial to cell survival and proliferation. Alteration of the important components of the mTOR pathway has significant effects on leukemogenesis and resistance to conventional chemotherapy. Thus, we reviewed recent researches of mTOR signaling pathway in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The inhibitors targeting phosphatidylinositol 3-kinease (PI3K)/AKT/mTOR pathway are applied to many experiments, alone or in combination with cytotoxic drugs. However, some inhibitors alone did not block off the pathway successfully, even lead to reactivation of the pathway because of the existence of feedback mechanism, while the combination of inhibitors or cytotoxic drugs acquire stronger inhibitive effect. Liver kinase B1 (LKB1)/adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/mTOR pathway is known as a tumor suppression axis while some experiments demonstrate it prolongs the proliferation of AML cells. In a word, the role of mTOR pathway in AML is complicated and needs further investigation.