The Expression and Activation of AMPKα in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

• Main Authors: Yung-Chung Wang, 王詠中
• Other Authors: Kuan-Chih Chow
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/64725595905561838990

碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 醫學科技研究所 === 96 === AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an evolutionally conserved protein kinase that serves as an energy guardian to help cells adapt to various metabolic stress including hypoxia. Because the role of AMPK in cancers has not been fully elucidated, in this study we investigated the expression and activation of AMPKα in non-small cell lung cancer. Our results showed that AMPKα is overexpressed in lung tumor tissues, suggesting that AMPKα might be important for lung tumor development. Furthermore, we found that AMPKα is mostly phosphorylated in lung tumor tissues, showing that its activation may promote energy-restoration and survival of cancer cells under hypoxia. Taken all together, we concluded that the expression and activation of AMPKα are closely associated with disease progression of lung cancer, of which hypoxia was frequently found.