Role Of DGK In Tyrosine Mediated Signaling

Breast cancer is one of the most common and lethal types of cancer today; affecting more than 230,840 women in the US in 2011. Some types of cancer cells prove to be more resistant to certain treatments, by which case, development of new and more efficient methods for combating the disease are needed. Many proteins in the circuitry in cancer cells depend on lipid signaling mediated by tyrosine. The PI3K/mTOR/Akt metabolic pathway is not an exception. It is dependent of the conversion of Diacylglicerol (DAG) to phosphatidic acid (PA) by the Diacylglicerol Kinase (DGK), which is tyrosine activated. PA is an important lipid in the tyrosine signaling of the PI3K/mTOR/Akt metabolic pathway. This research provides evidence that using a broad-spectrum DGK inhibitor R59949 activation of the PI3K/mTOR/Akt metabolic pathway in Triple Negative mutant cell lines such as MB-MDA-468, which lack PTEN expression is reduced; and cell proliferation in MB-MDA-231. Also, tyrosine signaling was compared with DGK inhibition with R599949 and PI3K inhibition with Wortmannin, PP2 and other pharmacological drugs.