rac S/T kinase; AKT kinase

Function

• one of 3 serine/threonine protein kinases (AKT1, AKT2 & AKT3)
• regulate many processes including:
  • metabolism
  • proliferation,
  • cell survival
  • growth
  • angiogenesis
• > 100 candidate substrates have been reported so far, but for most of them, no isoform specificity has been reported
• the 3 AKT kinases were long surmised to play redundant & overlapping roles; however, redundancy within AKT kinase isoforms may be limited;
• AKT1 is more specifically involved in cellular survival pathways, by inhibiting apoptotic processes
• AKT2 is more specific for the insulin receptor signaling
• while AKT1 & AKT2 are often implicated in many aspects of cellular transformation; the 2 isoforms act in a complementary opposing manner
• the role of AKT3 is less clear, though it appears to be predominantly expressed in brain

Structure

• strong homologies in the primary amino acid sequence of the 3 AKT kinases

More general terms

• serine/threonine kinase

More specific terms

• rac-alpha serine/threonine kinase (AKT1 kinase, protein kinase B)
• rac-beta serine/threonine kinase (AKT2 kinase, protein kinase B-beta, PKB beta, AKT2)
• RAC-gamma serine/threonine protein kinase; protein kinase Akt-3; protein kinase B gamma; PKB gamma; RAC-PK-gamma; STK-2 (AKT3, PKBG)