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REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Respiratory Pharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1516583
This article is part of the Research Topic Therapeutic Advances in Lung Cancer and Chronic Inflammatory Lung Disease View all 20 articles

Targeting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR Pathway in Lung Cancer: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targeting1

Provisionally accepted
Min Qiang Min Qiang 1Zhe Chen Zhe Chen 2Hongyang Liu Hongyang Liu 1Junxue Dong Junxue Dong 3Kejian Gong Kejian Gong 2Xinjun Zhang Xinjun Zhang 2Peng Huo Peng Huo 4Jingjun Zhu Jingjun Zhu 5Yifeng Shao Yifeng Shao 6Jinazun Ma Jinazun Ma 2Bowei Zhang Bowei Zhang 2Wei Liu Wei Liu 2*Mingbo Tang Mingbo Tang 2*
  • 1 College of Clinical Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China
  • 2 Department of Thoracic Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Hebei Province, China
  • 3 Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
  • 4 Laboratory of Infection Oncology, Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel and University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein,, Kiel, Germany
  • 5 Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine,, Seoul, Republic of Korea
  • 6 Department of General Surgery, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Owing to its high mortality rate, lung cancer (LC) remains the most common cancer worldwide, with the highest malignancy diagnosis rate. The phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling (PAM) pathway is a critical intracellular pathway involved in various cellular functions and regulates numerous cellular processes, including growth, survival, proliferation, metabolism, apoptosis, invasion, and angiogenesis. This review aims to highlight preclinical and clinical studies focusing on the PAM signaling pathway in LC and underscore the potential of natural products targeting it. Additionally, this review synthesizes the existing literature and discusses combination therapy and future directions for LC treatment while acknowledging the ongoing challenges in the field. Continuous development of novel therapeutic agents, technologies, and precision medicine offers an increasingly optimistic outlook for the treatment of LC.

    Keywords: PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, lung cancer, PI3K inhibitors, Akt inhibitors, mTOR inhibitors, Natural Products, combined therapy

    Received: 24 Oct 2024; Accepted: 27 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Qiang, Chen, Liu, Dong, Gong, Zhang, Huo, Zhu, Shao, Ma, Zhang, Liu and Tang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Wei Liu, Department of Thoracic Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, Hebei Province, China
    Mingbo Tang, Department of Thoracic Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, Hebei Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.