Expression and Clinical Significance of mTOR in Surgically Resected NSCLCs

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide; non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which includes squamous cell lung carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, large-cell lung carcinoma, accounts for more than 80% lung malignancy (Jemal et al., 2007). Despite recent advances in multimodality therapies, the prognosis for most patients with NSCLC is still unsatisfactory (Pfister et al., 2004). Recently, progress in the understanding of oncogenic kinase signaling pathways has provided better targets for developing effective therapeutic strategies, which may help to improve clinical outcomes. Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) was first defined by Heitman et al. in 1991 and has attracted monumental scientific interest over the past few decade due to its broad involvement in many human cancers and other diseases (Heitman et al., 1991; Efeyan et al., 2010). mTOR is the master regulator of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, and posses complex biological functions in the regulation of cell growth, proliferation, survival, as