Akt pathway

akt pathway PI3K-Akt Pathway is an intracellular signal transduction pathway that promotes metabolism, proliferation, cell survival, growth and angiogenesis in response to extracellular signals. This is mediated through serine and/or threonine phosphorylation of a range of downstream substrates. Key proteins involved are phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and Akt/Protein Kinase B. The origins of PKB/Akt research can be traced back to the discovery in 1977, by Staal and co-workers, which is a previously undescribed oncogene in a virus termed ATK8.

And this cell-derived oncogenic sequence were isolated and named akt. In 1991, three independent research teams identified genes corresponding to PKB/Akt. These three cloning papers established PKB/Akt as a novel phospho-protein kinase that was widely expressed, and paved the way for future experiments into the role of PKB/Akt in diverse cellular processes. An enzyme termed phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) had been isolated in 1990 by the group of Cantley. In 1995 Richard Roth and his colleagues reported that Akt was activated by insulin. Then, several researches suggested that membrane phospholipids generated by PI3K were an integral element required for PKB/Akt activation. http://www.creative-diagnostics.com/PI3K-AKT-Signaling-Pathway.htm