Studies to investigate signal transduction pathways that support viability and prevent apoptosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells (CLL) were initiated as a result of microarray cDNA analyses which revealed expression of genes whose products regulate cell cycle progression. Immunoblots revealed translation of several genes including caspases, cyclin D1, and the PI3-kinase dependent, surviva...

In this issue of Cell, Knight et al. (2006) present a detailed pharmacological analysis of the PI3 kinase (PI3-K) family using small molecule inhibitors. They conclude that p110alpha, a PI3-K isoform, has a critical role in insulin signaling. In a related Cancer Cell paper, Fan et al. (2006) show that blocking activation of both p110alpha and the kinase mTOR with a small molecule inhibitor limi...

The effect of okadaic acid, a serine/threonine phosphatase inhibitor, was analyzed in two insulin-responsive systems, the isolated mouse soleus muscle and 3T3-L1 adipocytes. While okadaic acid alone was a potent stimulator of glucose transport in both systems, it prevented transport stimulation by insulin. To gain insight into this inhibitory action, the activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kin...

The phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3-kinases) are a family of lipid kinases that have a key role in the regulation of many cellular processes including proliferation, survival, carbohydrate metabolism, and motility. There is now strong evidence that some members of the PI3-kinase family have an important role in cancer. Emerging evidence for functional specialisation of PI3-kinase isoforms sugge...

Protein tyrosine phosphorylation is an integral part of cytokine-induced proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic cells. The authors previously reported cloning and characterization of the receptor tyrosine kinase Tif, also termed Tyro3. Using the yeast 2-hybrid technology, they recently identified that the p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3 kinase) interacted with the ...

Adenosine and acetylcholine (ACh) trigger preconditioning by different signaling pathways. The involvement of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase), a protein tyrosine kinase, and Src family tyrosine kinase in preconditioning was evaluated in isolated rabbit hearts. Either wortmannin (PI3-kinase blocker), genistein (tyrosine kinase blocker), lavendustin A (tyrosine kinase blocker), or 4-am...

We recently demonstrated that epinephrine could inhibit the activation by insulin of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1)-associated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) in skeletal muscle (Hunt DG, Zhenping D, and Ivy JL. J Appl Physiol 92: 1285-1292, 2002). Activation of PI3-kinase is recognized as an essential step in the activation of muscle glucose transport by insulin. We therefore ...

Activation of c-Met, the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)/scatter factor receptor induces reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton, which drives epithelial cell scattering and motility and is exploited by pathogenic Listeria monocytogenes to invade nonepithelial cells. However, the precise contributions of distinct Rho-GTPases, the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases, and actin assembly regulators to ...

We have previously shown that CD4 ligand binding inhibits LFA-1-dependent adhesion between CD4+ T cells and B cells in a p56(lck)- and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase)-dependent manner. In this work, downstream events associated with adhesion inhibition have been investigated. By using HUT78 T cell lines, CD4 ligands were shown to induce a dissociation of LFA-1 from cytohesin, a cytop...