Abstract
Recent studies revealed that ethnic differences in mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK-1/2) signaling pathways might be associated with the development and progression of different human malignancies. The African American (AA) population has an increased rate of cancer incidence and mortality compared to the Caucasian American (CA) population. Although the socioeconomic differences across different ethnic groups contribute to the disparity in developing different cancers, recent scientific evidence indicates the association of molecular and genetic variations in racial disparities of different human malignancies. The mTOR and ERK-1/2 signaling pathways are one of the well-known oncogenic signaling mechanisms that regulate diverse molecular and phenotypic aspects of normal as well as cancer cells in response to different external or internal stimuli. To date, very few studies have been carried out to explore the significance of racial disparity with abnormal mTOR and ERK-1/2 kinase signaling pathways, which may contribute to the development of aggressive human cancers. In this review, we discuss the differential regulation of mTOR and ERK-1/2 kinase signaling pathways across different ethnic groups, especially between AA and CA populations. Notably, we observed that key signaling proteins associated with mTOR and ERK-1/2 pathway including transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), Akt, and VEGFR showed racially disparate expression in cancer patients. Overall, this review article encompasses the significance of racially disparate signaling molecules related to mTOR/ERK1/2 and their potential in developing tailor-made anti-cancer therapies.
Highlights
Recent reports on cancer research highlighted the significant impact of racial disparities on the clinical outcome of human malignancies (Esnaola and Ford, 2012; Heath et al, 2018; Freedman et al, 2021; Zavala et al, 2021)
We attempted to shed light on disparate expression of unrecognized essential signaling molecules related to mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) and Extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK-1/2) pathway that play an important role in regulation of various cellular processes
AA groups of patients are at higher risk of developing highly invasive and aggressive cancers than Caucasian American (CA) cancer patients. mTOR and extracellular signalregulated kinase (ERK)-1/2 pathways have been the most extensively studied pathways in different cancers and their targeting has given promising results. mTOR and ERK-1/2 regulate cancer cells aggressiveness through modulating the multiple signaling pathways in human body
Summary
Recent reports on cancer research highlighted the significant impact of racial disparities on the clinical outcome of human malignancies (Esnaola and Ford, 2012; Heath et al, 2018; Freedman et al, 2021; Zavala et al, 2021). We have comprehensively reviewed cancer-related racial disparities and the expression or activation status of the upstream regulator and downstream effector proteins that regulate the mTOR and ERK-1/2 pathway. We focus on current understanding of mTOR and MAPK pathways in cancer, with a particular emphasis on racially disparate regulation of these signaling pathways and their crosstalk with other key signaling molecules in different solid tumors. We highlight the mTOR pathway in response to intra- and extracellular signals that regulate energy homeostasis, cell growth, proliferation, and survival. Mitogen-activated protein kinases regulate key cellular processes and signaling pathways, including cell growth, survival, differentiation, and programmed cell death. Six different types of MAPKs have been identified in mammalian systems, which include extracellular signalregulated kinase (ERK)1/2, ERK3/4, ERK5, ERK7/8, Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)1/2/3, and the p38 isoforms mTOR/ERK-1/2-ASSOCIATED SIGNALING
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