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Opposing Functions of Akt Isoforms in Lung Tumor Initiation and Progression
BACKGROUND: The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase–regulated protein kinase, Akt, plays an important role in the initiation and progression of human cancer. Mammalian cells express three Akt isoforms (Akt1–3), which are encoded by distinct genes. Despite sharing a high degree of amino acid identity, phen...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3983215/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24722238 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0094595 |
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author | Linnerth-Petrik, Nicolle M. Santry, Lisa A. Petrik, James J. Wootton, Sarah K. |
author_facet | Linnerth-Petrik, Nicolle M. Santry, Lisa A. Petrik, James J. Wootton, Sarah K. |
author_sort | Linnerth-Petrik, Nicolle M. |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase–regulated protein kinase, Akt, plays an important role in the initiation and progression of human cancer. Mammalian cells express three Akt isoforms (Akt1–3), which are encoded by distinct genes. Despite sharing a high degree of amino acid identity, phenotypes observed in knockout mice suggest that Akt isoforms are not functionally redundant. The relative contributions of the different Akt isoforms to oncogenesis, and the effect of their deficiencies on tumor development, are not well understood. METHODS: Here we demonstrate that Akt isoforms have non-overlapping and sometimes opposing functions in tumor initiation and progression using a viral oncogene-induced mouse model of lung cancer and Akt isoform-specific knockout mice. RESULTS: Akt1 ablation significantly delays initiation of lung tumor growth, whereas Akt2 deficiency dramatically accelerates tumorigenesis in this mouse model. Ablation of Akt3 had a small, not statistically significant, stimulatory effect on tumor induction and growth by the viral oncogene. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase–mediated dUTP nick end labeling and Ki67 immunostaining of lung tissue sections revealed that the delayed tumor induction in Akt1(−/−) mice was due to the inhibitory effects of Akt1 ablation on cell growth and survival. Conversely, the accelerated growth rate of lung tumors in Akt2(−/−) and Akt3(−/−) mice was due to increased cell proliferation and reduced tumor cell apoptosis. Investigation of Akt signaling in tumors from Akt knockout mice revealed that the lack of Akt1 interrupted the propagation of signaling in tumors to the critical downstream targets, GSK-3α/β and mTOR. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that the degree of functional redundancy between Akt isoforms in the context of lung tumor initiation is minimal. Given that this mouse model exhibits considerable similarities to human lung cancer, these findings have important implications for the design and use of Akt inhibitors for the treatment of lung cancer. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3983215 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-39832152014-04-15 Opposing Functions of Akt Isoforms in Lung Tumor Initiation and Progression Linnerth-Petrik, Nicolle M. Santry, Lisa A. Petrik, James J. Wootton, Sarah K. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase–regulated protein kinase, Akt, plays an important role in the initiation and progression of human cancer. Mammalian cells express three Akt isoforms (Akt1–3), which are encoded by distinct genes. Despite sharing a high degree of amino acid identity, phenotypes observed in knockout mice suggest that Akt isoforms are not functionally redundant. The relative contributions of the different Akt isoforms to oncogenesis, and the effect of their deficiencies on tumor development, are not well understood. METHODS: Here we demonstrate that Akt isoforms have non-overlapping and sometimes opposing functions in tumor initiation and progression using a viral oncogene-induced mouse model of lung cancer and Akt isoform-specific knockout mice. RESULTS: Akt1 ablation significantly delays initiation of lung tumor growth, whereas Akt2 deficiency dramatically accelerates tumorigenesis in this mouse model. Ablation of Akt3 had a small, not statistically significant, stimulatory effect on tumor induction and growth by the viral oncogene. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase–mediated dUTP nick end labeling and Ki67 immunostaining of lung tissue sections revealed that the delayed tumor induction in Akt1(−/−) mice was due to the inhibitory effects of Akt1 ablation on cell growth and survival. Conversely, the accelerated growth rate of lung tumors in Akt2(−/−) and Akt3(−/−) mice was due to increased cell proliferation and reduced tumor cell apoptosis. Investigation of Akt signaling in tumors from Akt knockout mice revealed that the lack of Akt1 interrupted the propagation of signaling in tumors to the critical downstream targets, GSK-3α/β and mTOR. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that the degree of functional redundancy between Akt isoforms in the context of lung tumor initiation is minimal. Given that this mouse model exhibits considerable similarities to human lung cancer, these findings have important implications for the design and use of Akt inhibitors for the treatment of lung cancer. Public Library of Science 2014-04-10 /pmc/articles/PMC3983215/ /pubmed/24722238 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0094595 Text en © 2014 Linnerth-Petrik et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Linnerth-Petrik, Nicolle M. Santry, Lisa A. Petrik, James J. Wootton, Sarah K. Opposing Functions of Akt Isoforms in Lung Tumor Initiation and Progression |
title | Opposing Functions of Akt Isoforms in Lung Tumor Initiation and Progression |
title_full | Opposing Functions of Akt Isoforms in Lung Tumor Initiation and Progression |
title_fullStr | Opposing Functions of Akt Isoforms in Lung Tumor Initiation and Progression |
title_full_unstemmed | Opposing Functions of Akt Isoforms in Lung Tumor Initiation and Progression |
title_short | Opposing Functions of Akt Isoforms in Lung Tumor Initiation and Progression |
title_sort | opposing functions of akt isoforms in lung tumor initiation and progression |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3983215/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24722238 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0094595 |
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