=====AKT=====
[[Protein kinase B]] (PKB), also known as Akt, is a serine/threonine-specific [[protein kinase]] that plays a key role in multiple cellular processes such as [[glucose]] metabolism, [[apoptosis]], cell proliferation, transcription and cell migration.

{{ ::signaling_pathway.jpg|}}

see [[PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway]]

Emerging studies have focused on inhibiting AKT activation; here Mehta et al. demonstrate that in primary [[glioblastoma]] (Glioblastoma) tumor samples, full-dose inhibition of AKT activity leads to differential responses among samples in the context of cell death and self- renewal, reinforcing the notion that Glioblastoma is a heterogeneous disease. In contrast, low-dose AKT inhibition when combined with fractionation of radiation doses leads to a significant apoptosis-mediated cell death of primary patient-derived Glioblastoma cells. Therefore, low-dose targeted therapies might be better for radiosensitization of primary Glioblastoma cells and further allow for reducing the clinical toxicities often associated with targeting the AKT/PI3K/mTOR [[pathway]]. This work emphasizes the discrepancies between cell lines and primary tumors in drug testing, and indicates that there are salient differences between patients, highlighting the need for personalized medicine in treating [[high-grade glioma ]]
((Mehta M, Khan A, Danish S, Haffty BG, Sabaawy HE. Radiosensitization of
Primary Human Glioblastoma Stem-like Cells With Low-dose AKT Inhibition. Mol
Cancer Ther. 2015 Feb 18. pii: molcanther.0708.2014. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed
PMID: 25695954.)).
----
Current standard treatment for [[glioma]] patients is surgical removal followed by radiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy. Due to therapeutic resistance and tumor recurrence, efforts are ongoing to identify the molecules that are fundamental to regulate the tumor progression and provide additional methods for individual treatment of glioma patients. By studying the initiation and maintenance of glioma, studies focused on the targets of [[tyrosine kinase receptor]]s including [[EGFR]], [[PDGFR]] and other crucial signal pathways such as [[PI3K]]/[[AKT]] and [[RAS]]/[[RAF]]/[[MAPK]] pathway. Furthermore, recent advances in targeting [[immunotherapy]] and [[stem cell therapy]] also brought numerous strategies to glioma treatment
((Lin L, Cai J, Jiang C. Recent advances in targeted therapy for glioma. Curr
Med Chem. 2016 Dec 23. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 28019637.
)).