mTORC1 as a metabolic rheostat coordinates hormonal signals and cellular proliferation to sustain endometrial competence

Yadong Sun^#^{1

2

3}, Shuo Wan^#⁴, Mingyue Zhao^#^{1

2

3}, Kexin Chen^#^{5

6}, Yue Wu¹, Yong Huang¹, Jun He⁷, Feng Liu^{1

2

3}, Hanlin Shuai⁸, Jiacong Yan^{9

10}, Meixiang Yang^{11

12

13

14}

Affiliations

¹ The Fifth Affiliated Hospital (Heyuan Shenhe People's Hospital), Jinan University, Heyuan, 517000, China.
² The Affiliated Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510317, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Molecules and Druggability Assessment, Health Science Center (School of Medicine), The Biomedical Translational Research Institute, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Regenerative Medicine of the Ministry of Education, International Joint Laboratory for Embryonic Development and Prenatal Medicine, Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China.
⁵ Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, 650500, China.
⁶ KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, 650500, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Viral Pathogenesis & Infection Prevention and Control (Jinan University). Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Germ-Free Animals and Microbiota Application, Institute of Laboratory Animal Science. School of Medicine, Jinan University. Guangzhou, Guangzhou, 510632, China.
⁸ The Fifth Affiliated Hospital (Heyuan Shenhe People's Hospital), Jinan University, Heyuan, 517000, China. piaoshuai2003@126.com.
⁹ Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, 650500, China. yan_jiacong@kust.edu.cn.
¹⁰ KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, 650500, China. yan_jiacong@kust.edu.cn.
¹¹ The Fifth Affiliated Hospital (Heyuan Shenhe People's Hospital), Jinan University, Heyuan, 517000, China. mxyang@jnu.edu.cn.
¹² The Affiliated Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510317, China. mxyang@jnu.edu.cn.
¹³ State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Molecules and Druggability Assessment, Health Science Center (School of Medicine), The Biomedical Translational Research Institute, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China. mxyang@jnu.edu.cn.
¹⁴ Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Viral Pathogenesis & Infection Prevention and Control (Jinan University). Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Germ-Free Animals and Microbiota Application, Institute of Laboratory Animal Science. School of Medicine, Jinan University. Guangzhou, Guangzhou, 510632, China. mxyang@jnu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 41826809
DOI: 10.1186/s11658-026-00888-x

Free article

mTORC1 as a metabolic rheostat coordinates hormonal signals and cellular proliferation to sustain endometrial competence

Yadong Sun et al. Cell Mol Biol Lett. 2026.

Free article

. 2026 Mar 13.

doi: 10.1186/s11658-026-00888-x. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ The Fifth Affiliated Hospital (Heyuan Shenhe People's Hospital), Jinan University, Heyuan, 517000, China.
² The Affiliated Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510317, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Molecules and Druggability Assessment, Health Science Center (School of Medicine), The Biomedical Translational Research Institute, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Regenerative Medicine of the Ministry of Education, International Joint Laboratory for Embryonic Development and Prenatal Medicine, Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China.
⁵ Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, 650500, China.
⁶ KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, 650500, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Viral Pathogenesis & Infection Prevention and Control (Jinan University). Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Germ-Free Animals and Microbiota Application, Institute of Laboratory Animal Science. School of Medicine, Jinan University. Guangzhou, Guangzhou, 510632, China.
⁸ The Fifth Affiliated Hospital (Heyuan Shenhe People's Hospital), Jinan University, Heyuan, 517000, China. piaoshuai2003@126.com.
⁹ Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, 650500, China. yan_jiacong@kust.edu.cn.
¹⁰ KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, 650500, China. yan_jiacong@kust.edu.cn.
¹¹ The Fifth Affiliated Hospital (Heyuan Shenhe People's Hospital), Jinan University, Heyuan, 517000, China. mxyang@jnu.edu.cn.
¹² The Affiliated Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510317, China. mxyang@jnu.edu.cn.
¹³ State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Molecules and Druggability Assessment, Health Science Center (School of Medicine), The Biomedical Translational Research Institute, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China. mxyang@jnu.edu.cn.
¹⁴ Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Viral Pathogenesis & Infection Prevention and Control (Jinan University). Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Germ-Free Animals and Microbiota Application, Institute of Laboratory Animal Science. School of Medicine, Jinan University. Guangzhou, Guangzhou, 510632, China. mxyang@jnu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 41826809
DOI: 10.1186/s11658-026-00888-x

No abstract available

Keywords: Cholesterol biosynthesis; Endometrial proliferation and differentiation; Thin endometrium; mTORC1 signaling.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study adhered to the ethical guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki (2013). Written informed consent was obtained from each patient. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of First People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province (approval no. KHLL2025-KY083, approved on 11 March, 2025). In addition, all animal experiments were conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) and received approval from the Jinan University Laboratory Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee (IACUC #20210128–12, approved on May 7, 2021). Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

References

1. Tomic V, Kasum M, Vucic K. Impact of embryo quality and endometrial thickness on implantation in natural cycle IVF. Arch Gynecol Obstet. 2020;301(5):1325–30.
1. Maenhoudt N, De Moor A, Vankelecom H. Modeling endometrium biology and disease. J Pers Med. 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm12071048.
1. Hu X, Wu H, Yong X, Wang Y, Yang S, Fan D, et al. Cyclical endometrial repair and regeneration: molecular mechanisms, diseases, and therapeutic interventions. MedComm (2020). 2023;4(6):e425.
1. Koot YE, Teklenburg G, Salker MS, Brosens JJ, Macklon NS. Molecular aspects of implantation failure. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2012;1822(12):1943–50.
1. Mouhayar Y, Franasiak JM, Sharara FI. Obstetrical complications of thin endometrium in assisted reproductive technologies: a systematic review. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2019;36(4):607–11.

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mTORC1 as a metabolic rheostat coordinates hormonal signals and cellular proliferation to sustain endometrial competence

Affiliations

mTORC1 as a metabolic rheostat coordinates hormonal signals and cellular proliferation to sustain endometrial competence

Authors

Affiliations

Conflict of interest statement

References

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources