I have given 12 hrs of Rapamycin treatment (100 nM) to ovarian cancer cells after which I see a decrease in both phospho as well as the total levels of mTOR. Why does the total level go down? is there any literature available?
A prolonged treatment of cells with rapamycin, an inhibitor of mTOR, inhibits protein synthesis. Thus, depending upon the half-life of a protein, it is predicted to decrease the levels of proteins in cells. In certain cell types, the mTOR protein half-life is short (1.5 - 3 h). This could account for an observed decrease in the levels of mTOR following rapamycin treatment of ovarian cancer cells.