Spinal cord injury (SCI) is an extremely serious type of physical trauma observed in clinics. Neuropathic pain resulting from SCI has a lasting and significant impact on most aspects of daily life. Thus, a better understanding of the molecular pathways responsible for the cause of neuropathic pain observed in SCI is important to develop effective therapeutic agents and treatment strategies. Mam...

The protein kinase mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is well established as a key regulator of skeletal muscle size. In this study, we determined that the stress responsive gene REDD2 (regulated in development and DNA damage responses 2) is a negative regulator of mTOR signaling and is expressed predominantly in skeletal muscle. Overexpression of REDD2 in muscle cells significantly inhibited...

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine-threonine kinase that acts downstream of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling pathway and regulates a wide range of cellular functions including transcription, translation, proliferation, apoptosis, and autophagy. Whereas genetic alterations that result in mTOR activation are frequently present in human cancers, whether the mTOR gene itsel...

The overall decrease in proteolytic activity in aging can promote and accelerate protein accumulation and metabolic disturbances. To specifically analyze changes in macroautophagy (MA) we quantified different autophagy-related proteins (ATGs) in young, adult and old murine tissue as well as in young and senescent human fibroblasts. Thus, we revealed significantly reduced levels of ATG5-ATG12, L...

The central importance of the serine/threonine protein kinase mTOR (mammalian Target of Rapamycin) in the control of cell growth and proliferation is well established. However, our knowledge both of the upstream pathways controlling mTOR activity and of the downstream events mediating these effects is still seriously incomplete. We report a previously unsuspected role for the nonprotein-coding ...

The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) coordinates eukaryotic cell growth and metabolism with environmental inputs, including nutrients and growth factors. Extensive research over the past two decades has established a central role for mTOR in regulating many fundamental cell processes, from protein synthesis to autophagy, and deregulated mTOR signaling is implicated in the progression of c...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by cognitive impairment in clinical presentation, and by β-amyloid (Aβ) production and the hyper-phosphorylation of tau in basic research. More highlights demonstrate that the activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) enhances Aβ generation and deposition by modulating amyloid precursor protein (APP) metabolism and upregulating β- and γ-sec...

Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) is a nutrient-responsive neuropeptide that exerts diverse actions in the gastrointestinal tract, including enhancing mucosal cell survival and proliferation. GLP-2 stimulates mucosal growth in vivo with an increased rate of protein synthesis. However, it was unclear whether GLP-2 can directly stimulate protein synthesis. The objective was to test critically wheth...

Mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine/threonine kinase and that forms two multiprotein complexes known as the mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) and mTOR complex 2 (mTORC2). mTOR regulates cell growth, proliferation and survival. mTORC1 is composed of the mTOR catalytic subunit and three associated proteins: raptor, mLST8/GβL and PRAS40. mTORC2 contains mTOR, rictor, mLST8/GβL, mSin1, and proto...

mTORC1 [mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) complex 1] regulates diverse cell functions. mTORC1 controls the phosphorylation of several proteins involved in mRNA translation and the translation of specific mRNAs, including those containing a 5'-TOP (5'-terminal oligopyrimidine). To date, most of the proteins encoded by known 5'-TOP mRNAs are proteins involved in mRNA translation, such as ribos...