The reason why total-AMPKα but not pAMPKα(Thr172) associated with prognosis is uncertain, but may be due to the differential phosphorylation patterns that can occur with AMPK: in addition to Thr172 AMPKα is also phosphorylated at Thr258 and Ser485 for AMPKα1 and Ser491 for AMPKα2 [43], expression of pAMPKα at other phosphorylation sites, rather than Thr172, may be important for breast cancer prognosis, and should perhaps be addressed in future work. The gene discussed is PRKAA1; the disease is breast cancer.