mTOR inhibitors | |
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Drug class | |
![]() Ball-and-stick model of sirolimus, the prototype mTOR inhibitor | |
Class identifiers | |
Use | Immunosuppression (rapamycin) |
Mechanism of action | mTOR inhibition |
Biological target | • FKBP12 • mTOR |
Legal status | |
In Wikidata |
mTOR inhibitors are a class of drugs used to treat several human diseases, including cancer, autoimmune diseases, and neurodegeneration. They function by inhibiting the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) (also known as the mechanistic target of rapamycin), which is a serine/threonine-specific protein kinase that belongs to the family of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) related kinases (PIKKs). mTOR regulates cellular metabolism, growth, and proliferation by forming and signaling through two protein complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2. The most established mTOR inhibitors are so-called rapalogs (rapamycin and its analogs), which have shown tumor responses in clinical trials against various tumor types.[1]