Activation of the mTOR signaling pathway in breast cancer and its correlation with the clinicopathologic variables.

Aims Rapamycin and its analogues are currently being tested in clinical trials as novel–targeted anticancer agents. Pre-clinical studies that used breast cancer cell lines have suggested that p-Akt or p-S6K1 expressing tumors, as well as PTEN negative tumors, were sensitive to rapamycin. The aims of this study were to determine the proportion of breast cancer that could be candidates for rapamycin treatment and to elucidate the clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis of potentially rapamycin-sensitive tumors.