Effective and selective targeting of leukemia cells using a TORC1/2 kinase inhibitor

The protein kinase mTOR is known to contribute to cancer development. However, existing drugs targeting mTOR, such as rapamycin, have not been very effective at inhibiting cancer cell survival and also have the unwanted side effect of immunosuppression. Studying preclinical models of leukemia driven by the BCR-ABL oncogene, Matthew Janes et al. now show that a new mTOR inhibitor—which unlike previous ones is an ATP competitive inhibitor that targets the active site of the enzyme—can overcome these drawbacks.