Showing papers on "PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway published in 1996"

Direct inhibition of the signaling functions of the mammalian target of rapamycin by the phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors, wortmannin and LY294002.

Abstract: The immunosuppressant, rapamycin, inhibits cell growth by interfering with the function of a novel kinase, termed mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). The putative catalytic domain of mTOR is similar to those of mammalian and yeast phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinases. This study demonstrates that mTOR is a component of a cytokine-triggered protein kinase cascade leading to the phosphorylation of the eukaryotic initiation factor-4E (eIF-4E) binding protein, PHAS-1, in activated T lymphocytes. This event promotes G1 phase progression by stimulating eIF-4E-dependent translation initiation. A mutant YAC-1 T lymphoma cell line, which was selected for resistance to the growth-inhibitory action of rapamycin, was correspondingly resistant to the suppressive effect of this drug on PHAS-1 phosphorylation. In contrast, the PI 3-kinase inhibitor, wortmannin, reduced the phosphorylation of PHAS-1 in both rapamycin-sensitive and -resistant T cells. At similar drug concentrations (0.1-1 microM), wortmannin irreversibly inhibited the serine-specific autokinase activity of mTOR. The autokinase activity of mTOR was also sensitive to the structurally distinct PI 3-kinase inhibitor, LY294002, at concentrations (1-30 microM) nearly identical to those required for inhibition of the lipid kinase activity of the mammalian p85-p110 heterodimer. These studies indicate that the signaling functions of mTOR, and potentially those of other high molecular weight PI 3-kinase homologs, are directly affected by cellular treatment with wortmannin or LY294002.

Immunopharmacology of rapamycin.

Abstract: ▪ Abstract The potent immunosuppressive drugs FK506 and rapamycin interfere with signal transduction pathways required for T cell activation and growth. The distinct inhibitory effects of these drugs on the T cell activation program are mediated through the formation of pharmacologically active complexes with members of a family of intracellular receptors termed the FK506 binding proteins (FKBPs). The FKBP12 · FK506 complex specifically binds to and inhibits calcineurin, a signaling protein required for transcriptional activation of the interleukin (IL)-2 gene in response to T cell antigen receptor engagement. The FKBP12 · rapamycin complex interacts with a recently defined target protein termed the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Accumulating data suggest that mTOR functions in a previously unrecognized signal transduction pathway required for the progression of IL-2-stimulated T cells from G1 into the S phase of the cell cycle. Here we review the immunopharmacology of rapamycin, with particular em...

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase recruitment by p185erbB-2 and erbB-3 is potently induced by neu differentiation factor/heregulin during mitogenesis and is constitutively elevated in growth factor-independent breast carcinoma cells with c-erbB-2 gene amplification.

Abstract: Amplification and overexpression of the c-erbB-2 gene in 21MT-2 and 21MT-1 human breast carcinoma cells results in progressively elevated levels of constitutively tyrosine-phosphorylated p185erbB-2 and is associated with progressive insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and combined IGF/epidermal growth factor (EGF) independence in culture. In addition, the neu differentiation factor/heregulins (HRGs), a family of ligands that activate p185erbB-2 through direct binding to erbB-3 or erbB-4, are potent mitogens for various nonneoplastic mammary epithelial cells and carcinoma cell lines in the absence of both IGF and EGF in culture. We have investigated the ability of ligand induction with HRGs or the constitutive activation of p185erbB-2 in the 21MT breast carcinoma cells to induced the recruitment of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) by p185erbB-2 and erbB-3. HRG was found to potently induce the recruitment of the M(r) 85,000 regulatory subunit of PI3K by phosphotyrosine proteins in both nonneoplastic H16N-2 mammary epithelial cells (which express normal c-erbB-2 levels) and in the 21MT-2 and 21MT-1 cell lines, which were all isolated from a single patient with intraductal and invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast and express c-erbB-3 but not c-erbB-4 in culture. The activation of PI3K in these cells was also associated with high-level mitogenic responsiveness to HRG, as well as the IGF/EGF-independent proliferation of the 21MT cell lines in culture. The recruitment of PI3K by phosphotyrosine protein during ligand-induced activation, or that seen constitutively in the 21MT tumor cells, did not involve detectable tyrosine phosphorylation of p85. The HRG-induced recruitment of p85 and the constitutive recruitment of p85 in the 21MT cell lines involved direct association with both p185erbB-2 and erbB-3, although greater levels were recruited directly by erbB-3. Wortmannin, a potent inhibitor of PI3K enzymatic activity, also blocked the autonomous proliferation of the 21MT cells, and this effect was reversible in long-term cultures. These data indicate that PI3K may be an especially important mediator of HRG-induced proliferation in mammary epithelial cells and is involved in the autonomous proliferation of growth factor-independent breast carcinoma cells with c-erbB-2 gene amplification.