AKT-1 and BCL-2 co-expression in breast cancer patients correlates with better survival

Excerpt

Akt-1 is a serine/threonine-protein kinase that regulates growth factor-dependent cell proliferation and survival. Activated-Akt-1 causes Bcl-2 release from the BAD:Bcl-2 inactive complex. Bcl-2 is not only able to prevent apoptosis, as a downstream effector of Akt-1, but also can delay cell-cycle progression. Akt-1 is over-expressed in breast cancer cell lines and tumours, while Bcl-2 has been related with tumour survival and drug resistance in vitro and to an ER+/well differentiated sub-group of tumours, in vivo. Since endocrine treatment effectiveness could be due to activation of the apoptotic program, we wanted to investigate the expression and relationship between these factors as well as other variables (C-erbB-2, ER, and S-phase). …