2009 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Regulation and function of the proto-oncogene Akt
| Project/Area Number |
20790059
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Biological pharmacy
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
HIGUCHI Maiko The University of Tokyo, 分子細胞生物学研究所, 助教 (30420235)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2008 – 2009
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| Keywords | PAK / Akt / シグナル伝達 |
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| Research Abstract |
Many extracellular signals stimulate phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, which in turn activates the Rac1 GTPase, the protein kinase Akt and the Akt T308 upstream kinase, PDK1. Active Rac1 stimulates a number of events, including substrate phosphorylation by a subgroup of the PAK family of kinases. The combined effects of Rac1, PDK1 and Akt are critical for cell migration, growth, survival, metabolism and tumorigenesis. Here we show that Rac1 stimulates a second, kinase-independent role of PAK1. The PAK1 kinase domain serves as a scaffold to facilitate Akt stimulation by PDK1 and to aid recruitment of Akt to the membrane. PAK differentially activates sub-populations of Akt. These findings reveal scaffolding functions of PAK that regulate the efficiency, localization and specificity of the PDK1-Akt pathway.
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Research Products
(7 results)
