[HTML][HTML] Pharmacological inhibition of ULK1 kinase blocks mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)-dependent autophagy

KJ Petherick, OJL Conway, C Mpamhanga… - Journal of Biological …, 2015 - ASBMB
Autophagy is a cell-protective and degradative process that recycles damaged and long-
lived cellular components. Cancer cells are thought to take advantage of autophagy to help
them to cope with the stress of tumorigenesis; thus targeting autophagy is an attractive
therapeutic approach. However, there are currently no specific inhibitors of autophagy.
ULK1, a serine/threonine protein kinase, is essential for the initial stages of autophagy, and
here we report that two compounds, MRT67307 and MRT68921, potently inhibit ULK1 and …