mTOR promotes pituitary tumor development through activation of PTTG1

Oncogene. 2017 Feb 16;36(7):979-988. doi: 10.1038/onc.2016.264. Epub 2016 Aug 15.

Abstract

As one of the most common intracranial tumors, pituitary tumor is associated with high morbidity. Effective therapy is currently not available for some pituitary tumors due to the largely undefined pathological processes of pituitary tumorigenesis. In this study, hyperactivation of mammalian/mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling was observed in estrogen-induced rat pituitary tumor and mTOR inhibitor rapamycin blocked the tumor development. Pituitary knockout of either mTOR signaling pathway negative regulator Tsc1 or Pten caused mouse pituitary prolactinoma, which was abolished by rapamycin treatment. Mechanistically, the expression of pituitary tumor transforming gene 1 (PTTG1) was upregulated in an mTOR complex 1-dependent manner. Overexpressed PTTG1 was crucial in hyperactive mTOR-mediated tumorigenesis. mTOR-PTTG1 signaling axis may be targeted for the treatment of tumors with mTOR hyperactivation.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Apoptosis
  • Cell Proliferation*
  • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / genetics
  • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / metabolism
  • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / pathology*
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Knockout
  • PTEN Phosphohydrolase / physiology
  • Pituitary Neoplasms / genetics
  • Pituitary Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Pituitary Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Inbred F344
  • Securin / genetics
  • Securin / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / metabolism*
  • Tuberous Sclerosis Complex 1 Protein
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / physiology

Substances

  • PTTG1 protein, mouse
  • Securin
  • TSC1 protein, human
  • Tsc1 protein, mouse
  • Tsc1 protein, rat
  • Tuberous Sclerosis Complex 1 Protein
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases
  • PTEN Phosphohydrolase
  • Pten protein, mouse