MTOR and cancer: In NSCLC, gastric cancer and renal cell carcinoma, β-Elemene significantly suppresses the activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, and in renal cell carcinoma, it also inhibits the MAPK/ERK pathway, thereby promoting the autophagy of cancer cells (Liu et al., 2012a; Zhan et al., 2012a; Liu et al., 2011).