title: Potential role of Akt signaling in chronic kidney disease.
abstract: Renal fibrosis, particularly tubulointerstitial fibrosis, is the common final outcome of almost all chronic kidney diseases. However, the mechanisms involved in the development of renal fibrosis are poorly understood. The Akt (also known as protein kinase B, PKB) family is serine/threonine protein kinases that play critical roles in regulating growth, proliferation, survival, metabolism and other cellular activities. Cytokines, high-glucose medium, transforming growth factor-β1 or advanced glycation end-products activate Akt in different renal cells. Increased Akt activation has been found in experimental tubulointerstitial fibrosis. In addition, Akt activation is also an important node in diverse signaling cascades involved in kidney damage. These data give evidence for a role for Akt in renal fibrosis, but no reviews are available on the role of Akt in the process. Thus, our aim is to review the role of Akt activation and signaling in renal fibrosis.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Remodeling-related Cardiovascular Diseases, Ministry of Education, Beijing An Zhen Hospital, Institute of Heart Lung and Blood Vessel Diseases, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Aiping
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Remodeling-related Cardiovascular Diseases, Ministry of Education, Beijing An Zhen Hospital, Institute of Heart Lung and Blood Vessel Diseases, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Du
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism*; D051436:Renal Insufficiency, Chronic / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt
keywords: chronic kidney diseases; mesangial cells; podocytes; renal fibroblasts; tubular epithelial cells