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. This evidence concerns the gene PRKAA2 and breast cancer.