mTOR pathway in renal cell carcinoma

After decades of therapeutic nihilism in the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma, remarkable therapeutic strides have been made over the last few years. Early forays into molecularly targeted therapy for this difficult-to-treat disease were based around the inhibition of gene products of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) transcription factor (i.e., VEGF). Recent data suggest that inhibition of mTOR results in clinical benefit in patients with poor prognostic features, and in preclinical models this therapeutic effect involves downregulation of HIF Intriguingly, patients with nonclear cell histology appeared to obtain clinical benefit when treated with mTOR inhibitors. This review will highlight the mTOR pathway, its relevance to both clear cell and nonclear cell renal cell carcinoma, and its place in the host of quickly expanding treatment options.