Lee Da Yong
Stem Cell Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 34141, Korea.
Exp Neurobiol. 2015 Sep;24(3):177-85. doi: 10.5607/en.2015.24.3.177. Epub 2015 Sep 17.
mTOR is a serine/threonine kinase composed of multiple protein components. Intracellular signaling of mTOR complexes is involved in many of physiological functions including cell survival, proliferation and differentiation through the regulation of protein synthesis in multiple cell types. During brain development, mTOR-mediated signaling pathway plays a crucial role in the process of neuronal and glial differentiation and the maintenance of the stemness of neural stem cells. The abnormalities in the activity of mTOR and its downstream signaling molecules in neural stem cells result in severe defects of brain developmental processes causing a significant number of brain disorders, such as pediatric brain tumors, autism, seizure, learning disability and mental retardation. Understanding the implication of mTOR activity in neural stem cells would be able to provide an important clue in the development of future brain developmental disorder therapies.
mTOR是一种由多种蛋白质成分组成的丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶。mTOR复合物的细胞内信号传导通过调节多种细胞类型中的蛋白质合成，参与许多生理功能，包括细胞存活、增殖和分化。在大脑发育过程中，mTOR介导的信号通路在神经元和胶质细胞分化过程以及神经干细胞干性维持中起关键作用。神经干细胞中mTOR及其下游信号分子活性的异常会导致大脑发育过程的严重缺陷，从而引发大量脑部疾病，如儿童脑肿瘤、自闭症、癫痫、学习障碍和智力迟钝。了解mTOR活性在神经干细胞中的意义将能够为未来脑部发育障碍治疗的发展提供重要线索。
