Encyclopedia of Cancer

2009 Edition
| Editors: Manfred Schwab

Rapamycin

  • Peter J. Houghton
Reference work entry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-47648-1_4949
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Synonyms

Sirolimus; Rapamune®; CCI779; temsirolimus (Torisel®); RAD001 (everolimus)

Definition

A  macrolide antibiotic isolated from the soil bacteria Streptomyces hygroscopicus.

Characteristics

Discovery of Rapamycin

Rapamycin (sirolimus, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories; Fig. 1) was originally isolated as a fungicide from the soil bacteria Streptomyces hygroscopicus, collected from Easter Island (known as Rapa Nui to the natives) in the South Pacific in 1975. Structurally similar to the immunosuppressive drug  FK-506 (tacrolimus; Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.), rapamycin was initially developed to prevent transplant rejection.
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References

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    Bjornsti MA, Houghton PJ (2004) The TOR pathway: a target for cancer therapy. Nat Rev Cancer 4:335–348PubMedGoogle Scholar
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    Jacinto E, Hall MN (2003) Tor signalling in bugs, brain and brawn. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 4:117–126PubMedGoogle Scholar
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    Vivanco I, Sawyers CL (2002) The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase AKT pathway in human cancer. Nat Rev Cancer 2:489–501PubMedGoogle Scholar
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    Wullschleger S, Loewith R, Hall MN (2006) TOR signaling in growth and metabolism. Cell 124:471–484PubMedGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York 2008

Authors and Affiliations

  • Peter J. Houghton
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Molecular PharmacologySt. Jude Children’s Research HospitalTNUSA