Akt is a serine/threonine kinase and it participates in the key role of the PI3K signaling pathway. The Akt can be activated by a wide range of growth signals and the biochemical mechanisms leading to Akt activation are well defined. Once activated, Akt modulates the function of many downstream proteins involved in cellular survival, proliferation, migration, metabolism, and angiogenesis. The Akt is a central node of many signaling pathways and it is frequently deregulated in many types of human cancers. In this review, we provide an overview of Akt function and its role in the hallmarks of human cancer. We also discussed various mechanisms of Akt dysregulation in cancers, including epigenetic modifications like methylation, post-transcriptional non-coding RNAs-mediated regulation, and the overexpression and mutation.

Akt是一种丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶，它参与PI3K信号通路的关键作用。Akt可以被多种生长信号激活，并且导致Akt激活的生化机制也得到了很好的定义。一旦激活，Akt就会调节许多下游蛋白的功能，这些蛋白与细胞存活，增殖，迁移，代谢和血管生成有关。Akt是许多信号传导途径的中心节点，在许多类型的人类癌症中常常被放松调节。在这篇综述中，我们概述了Akt功能及其在人类癌症中的作用。我们还讨论了癌症中Akt失调的各种机制，包括表观遗传修饰，如甲基化，转录后非编码RNA介导的调控以及过表达和突变。