Laura Pearce, a PhD student in Dario Alessi's lab, has published a paper describing PF-4708671, a highly specific inhibitor of S6K1, a protein kinase activated downstream of the PI 3-kinase-PDK1 and mTOR signalling pathway. There is a lot of interest in S6K1 as it regulates numerous biological processes such as protein synthesis, growth, proliferation and longevity. There has been plenty of speculation that drugs that inhibit S6K1 may have utility in the treatment of cancer, diabetes and obesity.

Pfizer provided PF-4708671 to Laura to characterise as part of her PhD project. This was made possible by the unique Division of Signal Transduction Therapy (DSTT) collaboration between the MRC-PPU and five of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies which Pfizer is part of. This collaboration is dedicated to accelerating the development of specific inhibitors of kinases for the treatment of disease, as well as for the study of cell signaling.

Laura demonstrated that PF-4708671 suppresses S6K1 activity in cells but does not affect the function of closely related kinases such as S6K2, RSK and Akt. It is likely that PF-4708671 will become a widely deployed research tool to dissect the physiological role of S6K1 in controlling diverse biological processes of relevance to understanding and treatment of many human diseases.

To read a copy of Laura's paper click here