STK11 and cancer: Many studies have reported that activation of AMPK is linked to a reduced risk of cancer (Evans et al. 2005; Wang and Guan 2009; Yung et al. 2013) and AMPK activation as part of combinatorial treatments for cancer may prove to be especially effective for those cancers that inactivate tumor suppressors like LKB1 (a kinase that phosphorylates AMPK to activate it) and TSC2 (a direct substrate of AMPK that when phosphorylated impedes TORC1 activation when phosphorylated) (Chen et al. 2017; Hardie and Alessi 2013; Inoki et al. 2006; Lizcano et al. 2004).