Figure 2.

Biological functions of Akt signaling. Most of the cellular responses controlled by Akt are related to cancer. Once active, Akt regulates the activity of other intracellular signaling proteins that will trigger changes in the expression of specific genes that encode for proteins involved in cell survival (in grey) or proliferation/cell cycle (in yellow). Additionally, by activation of the mTOR protein, Akt will enhance the translation of specific mRNAs. TOP-dependent mRNAs that encode for proteins involved in ribosome biogenesis and also the translation of CAP-dependent mRNAs that encode for proteins with key cellular functions such as angiogenesis and metastasis (in red-blue).