title: Incidence, mechanism and prognostic value of activated AKT in pancreas cancer.
abstract: When activated, the serine/threonine kinase AKT mediates an antiapoptotic signal implicated in chemoresistance of various cancers. The mechanism(s) of AKT activation are unknown, though overexpression of HER-2/neu has been implicated in breast cancer. Therefore, we determined the incidence of activated AKT in human pancreatic cancer, whether HER-2/neu is involved in AKT activation, and if AKT activation is associated with biologic behaviour. HER-2/neu expression and AKT activation were examined in seven pancreatic cancer cell lines by Western blotting. The in vitro effect of HER-2/neu inhibition on AKT activation was similarly determined. Finally, 78 pancreatic cancer specimens were examined for AKT activation and HER-2/neu overexpression, and correlated with the clinical prognostic variable of histologic grade. HER-2/neu was overexpressed in two of seven cell lines; these two cell lines demonstrated the highest level of AKT activation. Inhibition of HER-2/neu reduced AKT activation in vitro. AKT was activated in 46 out of 78 (59%) of the pancreatic cancers; HER-2/neu overexpression correlated with AKT activation (P=0.015). Furthermore, AKT activation was correlated with higher histologic tumour grade (P=0.047). Thus, it is concluded that AKT is frequently activated in pancreatic cancer; this antiapoptotic signal may be mediated by HER-2/neu overexpression. AKT activation is associated with tumour grade, an important prognostic factor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Schlieman
authors.forename: B N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Fahy
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramsamooj
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Beckett
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Bold
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000201:enzymology*; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000494:pharmacology; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D006801:Humans; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; C494918:AKT1 protein, human