Furthermore, clinical data revealed that the expression of Ku80 and PDK-1 proteins were positively correlated and elevated in the tumor tissues of melanoma patients, and high expression of Ku80 predicted a poor prognosis in melanoma.
We observed that both PDK 1 and 2 isoforms are overexpressed in CM compared to nevi, this expression being associated with the expression of the mTOR pathway effectors and independent of the BRAF mutational status.
In this study, we show that the reduction of PDK1 by RNAi in melanoma and colon cancer cell lines activated in the MAPK pathway results in significant cell growth inhibition and apoptosis.