mTOR Inhibition: From Aging to Autism and Beyond

The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a highly conserved protein that regulates growth and proliferation in response to environmental and hormonal cues. Broadly speaking, organisms are constantly faced with the challenge of interpreting their environment and making a decision between “grow o...

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Main Author: Matt Kaeberlein
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2013-01-01
Series:Scientifica
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/849186
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author Matt Kaeberlein
author_facet Matt Kaeberlein
author_sort Matt Kaeberlein
collection DOAJ
description The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a highly conserved protein that regulates growth and proliferation in response to environmental and hormonal cues. Broadly speaking, organisms are constantly faced with the challenge of interpreting their environment and making a decision between “grow or do not grow.” mTOR is a major component of the network that makes this decision at the cellular level and, to some extent, the tissue and organismal level as well. Although overly simplistic, this framework can be useful when considering the myriad functions ascribed to mTOR and the pleiotropic phenotypes associated with genetic or pharmacological modulation of mTOR signaling. In this review, I will consider mTOR function in this context and attempt to summarize and interpret the growing body of literature demonstrating interesting and varied effects of mTOR inhibitors. These include robust effects on a multitude of age-related parameters and pathologies, as well as several other processes not obviously linked to aging or age-related disease.
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spelling doaj-art-7d858f17606c4dd280ebd5c2bdeb81812025-02-03T05:45:02ZengWileyScientifica2090-908X2013-01-01201310.1155/2013/849186849186mTOR Inhibition: From Aging to Autism and BeyondMatt Kaeberlein0Department of Pathology, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific Street, D-514, Seattle, WA 98195-7470, USAThe mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a highly conserved protein that regulates growth and proliferation in response to environmental and hormonal cues. Broadly speaking, organisms are constantly faced with the challenge of interpreting their environment and making a decision between “grow or do not grow.” mTOR is a major component of the network that makes this decision at the cellular level and, to some extent, the tissue and organismal level as well. Although overly simplistic, this framework can be useful when considering the myriad functions ascribed to mTOR and the pleiotropic phenotypes associated with genetic or pharmacological modulation of mTOR signaling. In this review, I will consider mTOR function in this context and attempt to summarize and interpret the growing body of literature demonstrating interesting and varied effects of mTOR inhibitors. These include robust effects on a multitude of age-related parameters and pathologies, as well as several other processes not obviously linked to aging or age-related disease.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/849186
spellingShingle Matt Kaeberlein
mTOR Inhibition: From Aging to Autism and Beyond
Scientifica
title mTOR Inhibition: From Aging to Autism and Beyond
title_full mTOR Inhibition: From Aging to Autism and Beyond
title_fullStr mTOR Inhibition: From Aging to Autism and Beyond
title_full_unstemmed mTOR Inhibition: From Aging to Autism and Beyond
title_short mTOR Inhibition: From Aging to Autism and Beyond
title_sort mtor inhibition from aging to autism and beyond
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/849186
work_keys_str_mv AT mattkaeberlein mtorinhibitionfromagingtoautismandbeyond