Basic description
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Akt, protein kinase B (PKB), is a serine/threonine kinase which is involved in many cellular signaling pathways and acts as a transducer of many functions initiated by growth factor receptors that activate phosphtidylinositol 3 kinase (PI 3 kinase). The major activity of Akt/PKB is to mediate cell survival. Akt/PKB is also believed to be a critical factor in the genesis of cancer as the tumor suppressor PTEN was found to antagonise PI3 kinase and Akt/PKB kinase activity. There are 3 known isoforms of this enzyme in mammalian cells (1/alpha, 2/beta and 3/gamma). IGF1 leads to the activation of AKT3, which may play a role in regulating cell survival. It is capable of phosphorylating several known proteins.
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