BRSK2 induced by nutrient deprivation promotes Akt activity in pancreatic cancer via downregulation of mTOR activity.

Neoplastic cells in pancreatic ductual adenocarcinoma (PDAC) survive in an energy-deprived milieu, and hyper-activation of Akt is thought to contribute to the neoplastic cell survival in PDAC. Kras activating mutations, common in PDAC, was believed to be the major driver of Akt activation. However, the inhibitor to Kras was not therapeutic for PDAC patients. This implied that PDAC cells might harbor an intrinsic merit that strengthens Akt activity. Here we showed that BRSK2, a serine/threonine-protein kinase of AMPK family, was induced by nutrient deprivation in PDAC cells and suppressed mTORC1 activity via phosphorylation of tuberous sclerosis complex 2 (TSC2). The suppression of mTORC1 activity in PDAC results in a dominant loss of feedback inhibition on Akt activity by mTORC1, consequently enhancing cell survival. This finding indicates that the intrinsic molecular merit that BRSK2 provides is a survival advantage to PDAC cells and strengthens the invasiveness of these neoplastic cells in energy-deprived environments.