The serine/threonine protein kinase PKB (also known as Akt) is thought to be a key mediator of signal transduction processes. The identification of PKB substrates and the role PKB phosphorylation plays in regulating these molecules have been a major focus of research in recent years. A recently developed motif-profile scoring algorithm that can be used to scan the genome for potential PKB substrates is therefore a useful tool, although additional considerations, such as the evolutionary conservation of the phosphorylation site, must also be taken into account. Recent evidence indicates that PKB plays a key role in cancer progression by stimulating cell proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis and is also probably a key mediator of insulin signalling. These findings indicate that PKB is likely to be a hot drug target for the treatment of cancer, diabetes and stroke. There are, however, a number of pitfalls of methodologies currently employed to study PKB function, and therefore caution should be used in interpretation of such experiments.
A signaling pathway was delineated by which insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) promotes the survival of cerebellar neurons. IGF-1 activation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3-...
Serum and certain growth factors have the ability to inhibit programmed cell death (apoptosis) and promote survival. The mechanism by which growth factors deliver an anti-apopto...
The immunosuppressant rapamycin interferes with G 1 -phase progression in lymphoid and other cell types by inhibiting the function of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). m...
Autophagy is a degradative process that recycles long-lived and faulty cellular components. It is linked to many diseases and is required for normal development. ULK1, a mammali...
The mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) protein is a serine-threonine kinase that regulates cell-cycle progression and growth by sensing changes in energy status. We demonstrat...
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