MTOR and cancer: The major findings of the current study are: i) PA, a novel compound isolated from the plant Ficus microcarpa possesses significant anti-proliferative activity against cancer cells; ii) PA is nontoxic to normal cells with selective toxicity to cancer cells; iii) PA binds to γ regulatory subunit with a high affinity and with low binding energy of −9.91 Kcal/mol; iv) PA is a potent activator of AMPK and targets AMPK to inhibit the viability of cancer cells; v) PA inhibits mTOR signaling and induces apoptosis in AMPK dependent manner; vi) PA induces autophagy independent of AMPK.