title: GSK-3 - at the crossroads of cell death and survival.
abstract: Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3) is involved in various signaling pathways controlling metabolism, differentiation and immunity, as well as cell death and survival. GSK-3 targets transcription factors, regulates the activity of metabolic and signaling enzymes, and controls the half-life of proteins by earmarking them for degradation. GSK-3 is unique in its mode of substrate recognition and the regulation of its kinase activity, which is repressed by pro-survival phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT signaling. In turn, GSK-3 exhibits pro-apoptotic functions when the PI3K-AKT pathway is inactive. Nevertheless, as GSK-3 is crucially involved in many signaling pathways, its role in cell death regulation is not uniform, and in some situations it promotes cell survival. In this Commentary, we focus on the various aspects of GSK-3 in the regulation of cell death and survival. We discuss the effects of GSK-3 on the regulation of proteins of the BCL-2 family, through which GSK-3 exhibits pro-apoptotic activity. We also highlight the pro-survival activities of GSK-3, which are observed in the context of nuclear factor κB (NFκB) signaling, and we discuss how GSK-3, by impacting on cell death and survival, might play a role in diseases such as cancer.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Stefan Meier Strasse 17, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Maurer
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Preiss
authors.forename: Prisca
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brauns-Schubert
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schlicher
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Charvet
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D016923:Cell Death; D002470:Cell Survival; D038362:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D038362:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3
keywords: Apoptosis; GSK-3; Glycogen synthase kinase 3; PI3K; Phosphoinositide 3-kinase