@article{1f6b689cd08a46f190e31151995051ec,
title = "Chronic mTOR activation promotes cell survival in Merkel cell carcinoma",
abstract = "Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive skin cancer with rising incidence. In this study, we demonstrate that mTOR activation and suppressed autophagy is common in MCCs. mTOR inhibition in two primary human MCC cell lines induces autophagy and cell death that is independent of caspase activation but can be attenuated by autophagy inhibition. This is the first study to evaluate mTOR and autophagy in MCC. Our data suggests a potential role of autophagic cell death upon mTOR inhibition and thus uncovers a previously underappreciated role of mTOR signaling and cell survival, and merits further studies for potential therapeutic targets.",
keywords = "Autophagy, Cell death, MTOR inhibitor, MTOR pathway, Merkel cell carcinoma",
author = "Zhenyu Lin and Amelia McDermott and Lijian Shao and Aarthi Kannan and Michael Morgan and Stack, {Brendan C.} and Mauricio Moreno and Davis, {Daniel A.} and Cornelius, {Lynn A.} and Ling Gao",
note = "Funding Information: The project described was supported by the Translational Research Institute (TRI), Grants UL1TR000039 and KL2TR000063 through the NIH National Center for Research Resources and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. Funding Information: This study was also supported by funds from the Department of Dermatology and the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. ",
year = "2014",
month = mar,
day = "28",
doi = "10.1016/j.canlet.2013.11.005",
language = "English",
volume = "344",
pages = "272--281",
journal = "Cancer Letters",
issn = "0304-3835",
number = "2",
}