Gene of the month: PIK3CA

K Lai; M C Killingsworth; C S Lee

doi:10.1136/jclinpath-2015-202885

Gene of the month: PIK3CA

J Clin Pathol. 2015 Apr;68(4):253-7. doi: 10.1136/jclinpath-2015-202885. Epub 2015 Feb 16.

Authors

K Lai¹, M C Killingsworth², C S Lee³

Affiliations

¹ Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Discipline of Pathology and Molecular Medicine Research Group, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Department of Pathology, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Electron Microscopy Laboratory, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Department of Anatomical Pathology, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
² Discipline of Pathology and Molecular Medicine Research Group, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Electron Microscopy Laboratory, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Department of Anatomical Pathology, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
³ Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Discipline of Pathology and Molecular Medicine Research Group, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Department of Anatomical Pathology, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Cancer Pathology, Bosch Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

PMID: 25688137
DOI: 10.1136/jclinpath-2015-202885

Abstract

PIK3CA encodes the p110α catalytic subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) which through its role in the PI3K/Akt pathway is important for the regulation of important cellular functions such as proliferation, metabolism and protein synthesis, angiogenesis and apoptosis. Mutations in PIK3CA are known to be involved in a wide range of human cancers and mutant PIK3CA is thought to act as an oncogene. The specific PIK3CA inhibitor, NVP-BYL719, has displayed promising results in cancer therapy and is currently under clinical trials. Furthermore, PI3K regulates autophagy, a cellular process that recycles proteins and organelles through lysosomal degradation and has recently been recognised as an attractive therapeutic target due to its pro- and anti-cancer properties. Several studies have attempted to investigate the effects of combining the inhibition of both PI3K and autophagy in cancer therapy, and an in vivo model has demonstrated that the combined use of a concomitant PI3K and autophagy inhibitor induced apoptosis in glioma cells.

Keywords: CANCER; CANCER GENETICS; CANCER RESEARCH.

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Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use
Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics
Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism*
Class I Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases
Drug Design
Genetic Predisposition to Disease
Humans
Molecular Targeted Therapy
Mutation
Neoplasms / drug therapy
Neoplasms / enzymology*
Neoplasms / genetics
Neoplasms / pathology
Phenotype
Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / genetics
Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / metabolism*
Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors
Protein Kinase Inhibitors / therapeutic use
Signal Transduction / drug effects

Substances

Antineoplastic Agents
Biomarkers, Tumor
Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors
Protein Kinase Inhibitors
Class I Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases
PIK3CA protein, human