Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 14, 2026

Isolation of Primary Mouse Hepatocytes for Nascent Protein Synthesis Analysis by Non-radioactive L-azidohomoalanine Labeling Method
Published on: October 23, 2018
Energy balance, polymorphisms in the mTOR pathway, and renal cell carcinoma risk
Xiang Shu1, Jie Lin, Christopher G Wood
1Department of Epidemiology, Unit 1340, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1155 Pressler Blvd, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Background:
The interplay between obesity, physical activity, weight gain, and genetic variants in the mTOR pathway has not been studied in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We examined the associations between obesity, weight gain, physical activity, and RCC risk. We also analyzed whether genetic variants in the mTOR pathway could modify the association.
Methods:
Incident RCC case subjects and healthy control subjects were recruited from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Case subjects and control subjects were frequency matched. Epidemiologic data were collected by in-person interview. One hundred ninety single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 22 genes in the mTOR pathway were extracted from previous genome-wide association studies. Logistic regression and regression spline were performed to obtain odds ratios (ORs). All statistical tests were two-sided.
Results:
A total of 577 non-Hispanic white case subjects and 593 healthy control subjects were included. Obesity at age 20 years (OR = 1.92, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.05 to 3.50; P = .03) and age 40 years (OR = 2.03, 95% CI = 1.38 to 2.98; P < .001) and moderate (OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.02 to 2.09; P = .04) and massive weight gain (OR = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.10 to 2.39; P = .01) from age 20 to 40 years were each statistically significantly associated with increased RCC risk. Low physical activity was associated with a 4.08-fold increased risk. Among 190 SNPs in the mTOR pathway, six SNPs located in the AKT3 gene were statistically significantly associated with increased risk, and those with three or more unfavorable genotypes had a 1.72-fold increased risk of RCC.
Conclusion:
Obesity, weight gain, physical activity, and genetic variants in the mTOR pathway may individually and jointly influence susceptibility to RCC.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...
PI3K/mTOR/AKT Signaling Pathway
Pharmacogenetic Phenotypes: Alterations in Pharmacokinetics, Drug Targets and Biologic Milieu
Pharmacogenetics of Drug Targets: β₂-Adrenergic Receptors, Apo E, Thymidylate Synthase
Interactions Between Signaling Pathways
Convergence and divergence, and cross-talk between signaling pathways
Two distinct signaling pathways can converge on a single functional unit, which may either be a single protein or a complex of proteins. The response is either functionally distinct or synergistic between the two pathways but different from the response...

