title: Akt: a potential target for thyroid cancer therapy.
abstract: Thyroid cancer is a heterogeneous disorder characterized by gene mutations that activate signaling pathways, and also by abnormalities in tumor suppressor genes and cell cycle proteins. Activation of the Akt/PKB signaling pathway appears to be an important event in thyroid tumorigenesis and, perhaps, in tumor progression too. Akt is activated in Cowden's syndrome through inactivation of PTEN, a negative regulator of Akt. Cowden's syndrome is an autosomal dominant multiorgan hamartoma syndrome characterized by benign and malignant thyroid tumors, breast cancers, and colon cancers. In addition, the Akt pathway appears to be activated in a significant proportion of sporadic thyroid cancers through activation of growth factor pathways by thyroid oncogenes and/or receptor overexpression. Disruption of PI3-kinase activity pharmacologically or disruption of Akt signaling using dominant negative cDNA expression have demonstrated salutary effects on several cancer models in vitro. Therefore, Akt represents an attractive target for pharmaceutical development for a variety of malignancies, including thyroid cancer.
authors.affiliation: The Washington Hospital Center/MedStar Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Faiza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kada
authors.forename: Motoyasu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saji
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Ringel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000201:enzymology*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; C494918:AKT1 protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt