Issue Archive

[Progress on PI3K/Akt signaling pathway regulating self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells.] [Article in Chinese]

YIN Meng-Meng, CUI Yu-Rong, WANG Lu, WANG Jia-Yu, GAO Ying, XI Jiao-Ya^*

Department of Physiology and Chinese-German Stem Cell Center, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory for Drug Target Researches and Pharmacodynamic Evaluation of Hubei Province, Wuhan 430030, China

Abstract

The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and its downstream target protein kinase B (Akt/PKB) can be activated by a variety of extracellular and intracellular signals. They are important signaling molecules and key survival factors involved in cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and other cellular processes. Recently, many reports demonstrate that type I PI3K/Akt signaling pathway plays an important role in maintenance of self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem (ES) cells. Further studies with regard to the self-renewal and pluripotency of ES cells and underlying molecular mechanisms are crucial to its application in cell replacement therapy, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. The present review focuses on the recent progress on the mediation of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway on the maintenance of self-renewal and pluripotency of ES cells.

Key words: PI3K/Akt signaling pathway; embryonic stem cells; Self-renewal; pluripotency

Received: 2013-07-29　　Accepted: 2014-01-02

Corresponding author: 席姣娅　　E-mail: zhengyall@hotmail.com

Citing This Article：

YIN Meng-Meng, CUI Yu-Rong, WANG Lu, WANG Jia-Yu, GAO Ying, XI Jiao-Ya. [Progress on PI3K/Akt signaling pathway regulating self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells.] [Article in Chinese]. Acta Physiol Sin 2014; 66 (2): 223-230 (in Chinese with English abstract).