Is Akt the "Warburg Kinase"?-Akt-energy Metabolism Interactions and Oncogenesis

Overview

Journal Semin Cancer Biol

Specialty Oncology

Date 2009 Jan 10

PMID 19130886

Citations 287

Authors

R Brooks Robey

Nissim Hay

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The serine/threonine kinase Akt - also known as protein kinase B (PKB) - has emerged as one of the most frequently activated protein kinases in human cancer. In fact, most, if not all, tumors ultimately find a way to activate this important kinase. As such, Akt activation constitutes a hallmark of most cancer cells, and such ubiquity presumably connotes important roles in tumor genesis and/or progression. Likewise, the hypermetabolic nature of cancer cells and their increased reliance on "aerobic glycolysis", as originally described by Otto Warburg and colleagues, are considered metabolic hallmarks of cancer cells. In this review, we address the specific contributions of Akt activation to the signature metabolic features of cancer cells, including the so-called "Warburg effect".

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