Research progress of mammalian target of rapamycin and occurence of autoimmune hemolytic anemia

Abstract

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine/threonine protein kinase that is involved in the immune pathogenesis of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) by regulating different types of T cell, B cells and dendritic cells (DC). mTOR inhibitor acts on the mTOR signaling pathway. It can up-regulate the number of regulatory T cell (Treg) and down-regulate the number of helper T cell (Th), Th2, and Th17. It plays an important role in the treatment of recurrent/refractory AIHA. The authors review the molecular structure of mTOR, mTOR signaling pathway, the regulation of mTOR involved in immune cells, and the treatment of AIHA with mTOR inhibitors. Key words: TOR serine-threonine kinases; Anemia, hemolytic, autoimmune; T-lymphocytes, regulatory; Th1 cells; Molecular targeted therapy; Immunosuppressive agents