Nearly a quarter century ago, Hanahan and Weinberg conceived six unifying principles explaining how normal cells transform into malignant tumors. Their provisional set of biological capabilities acquired during tumor development  cancer hallmarks  would evolve to fourteen tenets as knowledge of cancer genomes, molecular mechanisms, and the tumor microenvironment expanded, most recently adding four emerging enabling characteristics: phenotypic plasticity, epigenetic reprogramming, polymorphic microbiomes, and senescent cells. AKT kinases are critical signaling molecules that regulate cellular physiology upon receptor tyrosine kinases and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activation. The complex branching of the AKT signaling network involves several critical downstream nodes that significantly magnify its functional impact, such that nearly every organ system and cell in the body may be affected by AKT activity. Conversely, tumor intrinsic dysregulation of AKT can have numerous adverse cellular and pathological ramifications, particularly in oncogenesis, as multiple tumor suppressors and oncogenic proteins regulate AKT signaling. Herein, we review the mounting evidence implicating the AKT pathway in the aggregate of currently recognized hallmarks of cancer underlying the complexities of human malignant diseases. The challenges, recent successes, and likely areas for exciting future advances in targeting this complex pathway are also discussed.

中文翻译：

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AKT 和癌症的标志


近四分之一世纪前，Hanahan 和 Weinberg 构思了六个统一的原则来解释正常细胞如何转化为恶性肿瘤。随着癌症基因组、分子机制和肿瘤微环境知识的扩展，他们在肿瘤发展过程中获得的临时生物学能力集  癌症标志  将演变为 14 个原则，最近增加了四个新兴的使能特征：表型可塑性、表观遗传重编程、多态性微生物组和衰老细胞。AKT 激酶是关键的信号转导分子，在受体酪氨酸激酶和磷脂酰肌醇 3-激酶激活时调节细胞生理学。AKT 信号转导网络的复杂分支涉及几个关键的下游节点，这些节点会显著放大其功能影响，因此体内几乎每个器官系统和细胞都可能受到 AKT 活动的影响。相反，AKT 的肿瘤内在失调可产生许多不利的细胞和病理后果，尤其是在肿瘤发生方面，因为多种肿瘤抑制因子和致癌蛋白调节 AKT 信号传导。在本文中，我们回顾了越来越多的证据表明 AKT 通路是目前公认的癌症特征的汇总，这些特征是人类恶性疾病复杂性的基础。还讨论了针对这一复杂途径的挑战、最近的成功以及未来可能取得令人兴奋的进展的领域。