title: Effect of overexpression and nuclear translocation of constitutively active PKB-alpha on cellular survival and proliferation in HepG2 cells.
abstract: Protein kinase B (Akt/PKB) is a key component in the PI 3-kinase mediated cell survival pathway and has oncogenic transformation potential. Although the over-expression of PKB-alpha can prevent cell death following growth factor withdrawal, the long-term effects of stable over-expression of PKB-alpha on cell survival in the absence of growth factors remain to be resolved. In the present study, we generated HepG2 cells with stable expression of active PKB-alpha and compared its characteristics with HepG2 cells. Basal as well as insulin-stimulated levels of Ser(473) and Thr(308) phosphorylation in PKB-alpha transfected HepG2 cells were much higher than HepG2 cells. Constitutive expression of active PKB-alpha enabled HepG2 cells to survive up to 96 h without serum in growth media while HepG2 cells fail to survive after 48 h of serum withdrawal. A strong positive correlation (R(2) = 0.71) between cell proliferation and phosphorylated form of PKB-alpha at Thr(308) was observed along with higher levels of phosphorylated 3'-phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDK-1). HepG2 cells with constitutive expression of active PKB-alpha also showed higher levels of phosphorylated p65 subunit of nuclear factor-kappaB (NFkappaB) in comparison with HepG2 cells. Predominant nuclear localization of phosphorylated PKB-alpha was observed in stably transfected HepG2 cells. These results indicate that constitutive expression of active PKB-alpha renders HepG2 cells independent of serum based growth factors for survival and proliferation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
authors.forename: Dhananjay
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Noor A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Syed
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Roesler
authors.forename: Ramji L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Khandelwal
mesh_terms: D064413:3-Phosphoinositide-Dependent Protein Kinases; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism*; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D004789:Enzyme Activation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000494:pharmacology; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D010766:Phosphorylation / Q000187:drug effects; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D012694:Serine / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013912:Threonine / Q000378:metabolism; D051996:Transcription Factor RelA; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D064413:3-Phosphoinositide-Dependent Protein Kinases; D007328:Insulin; D016328:NF-kappa B; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D012694:Serine; D013912:Threonine; D051996:Transcription Factor RelA; C494918:AKT1 protein, human