MTOR and cancer: At the cellular level, the pathogenesis of AD and cancer both involve the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/AKT/mTOR) signaling pathway, which regulates cell proliferation, metabolism, growth, and autophagy (Pei and Hugon, 2008; Morgan et al., 2009; Advani, 2010; Talbot et al., 2012; Fumarola et al., 2014; Porta et al., 2014).