The Potential Value of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR Signaling Pathway for Assessing Prognosis in Cervical Cancer and as a Target for Therapy

ABSTRACT Cervical cancer is a common gynecological cancer and a leading cause of cancer‐related death in women globally. There is a need for the identification of prognostic and predictive biomarker for risk stratification. The phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/Akt/mTOR) pathway is often dysregulated in cervical cancer, indicating that it may be a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of this malignancy, and could perhaps be used as a novel biomarker in the assessment of risk of developing cervical cancer. We aimed to provide an overview of the potential applications of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway as biomarker for risk stratification, in predicting the prognosis of cervical cancer, and for developing new therapeutic approaches in patients with cervical cancer. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 4163–4169, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.