mTOR inhibition reverses Akt-dependent prostate intraepithelial neoplasia through regulation of apoptotic and HIF-1-dependent pathways

Majumder PK, Febbo PG, Bikoff R, Berger R, Xue Q, McMahon LM, Manola J, Brugarolas J, McDonnell TJ, Golub TR, et al. mTOR inhibition reverses Akt-dependent prostate intraepithelial neoplasia through regulation of apoptotic and HIF-1-dependent pathways. Nat Med. 2004;10:594–601.

NOTES

Majumder, Pradip KFebbo, Phillip GBikoff, RachelBerger, RaananXue, QiMcMahon, Louis MManola, JudithBrugarolas, JamesMcDonnell, Timothy JGolub, Todd RLoda, MassimoLane, Heidi ASellers, William RengP01CA89021/CA/NCI NIH HHS/Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tResearch Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.Nat Med. 2004 Jun;10(6):594-601. doi: 10.1038/nm1052. Epub 2004 May 23.

Abstract

Loss of PTEN function leads to activation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling and Akt. Clinical trials are now testing whether mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibition is useful in treating PTEN-null cancers. Here, we report that mTOR inhibition induced apoptosis of epithelial cells and the complete reversal of a neoplastic phenotype in the prostate of mice expressing human AKT1 in the ventral prostate. Induction of cell death required the mitochondrial pathway, as prostate-specific coexpression of BCL2 blocked apoptosis. Thus, there is an mTOR-dependent survival signal required downstream of Akt. Bcl2 expression, however, only partially restored intraluminal cell growth in the setting of mTOR inhibition. Expression profiling showed that Hif-1 alpha targets, including genes encoding most glycolytic enzymes, constituted the dominant transcriptional response to AKT activation and mTOR inhibition. These data suggest that the expansion of AKT-driven prostate epithelial cells requires mTOR-dependent survival signaling and activation of HIF-1 alpha, and that clinical resistance to mTOR inhibitors may emerge through BCL2 expression and/or upregulation of HIF-1 alpha activity.
Last updated on 02/17/2021