Structure, activation and biological effects of AKT or protein kinase B

AKT or protein kinase B is a serine / threonine kinase that plays a crucial role in cell proliferation, survival, growth, and glucose metabolism. So far, there have been discovered 3 isoforms of AKT, the most widespread in the tissues is AKT1. All isoforms present similar structure being activated by the phosphorylation process at the level of 2 hydroxyl amino acids serine and threonine. After activation, AKT will phosphorylate a number of protein substrates which it will activate or inhibit, finally leading to lipids, proteins, glycogen or nucleotides synthesis. In this review, we will discuss the structure of these protein kinases, the molecular mechanism of activation and the phosphorylation effects on other cellular structures.