Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is an atypical serine/threonine kinase that can integrate a variety of extracellular signal stimuli. It is involved in multiple signaling pathways in the body, affecting transcription and protein synthesis. Studies of mTOR found that it has an important connection with processes such as apoptosis, autophagy, and cell growth. For example: 1) mTOR signaling pathway can affect gene transcription and protein synthesis, which plays an important role in cell growth and proliferation. 2) mTOR stability can affect the expression of cytokines in T cells, which is involved in immune suppression. 3) mTOR signaling pathway can affect cell proliferation and protein synthesis, making it a new target for anti-tumor therapy. 4) In addition, mTOR signaling pathway also plays an important regulatory role in diseases such as motor metabolism. mTOR is present in two different complexes, the first being mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1), which consists of mTOR, Raptor, GβL and DEPTOR and is inhibited by rapamycin. The second complex, mTOR complex 2 (mTORC2), consists of mTOR, Rictor, GβL, Sin1, PRR5/Protor-1 and DEPTOR. The function of these two complexes is also different: mTORC1 is responsible for amino acids, oxygen, energy levels, and growth factors, mainly promoting protein synthesis, lipogenesis, energy metabolism, inhibition of autophagy, and lysosome formation. And mTORC2 plays an important role in areas such as muscle Actin cytoskeleton, cell survival, and metabolism.
