AKT - Cell Signaling

Akt are protein kinases that play a wide variety of roles in cell signaling, and are involved in glucose metabolism, apoptosis, cell proliferation and migration. Akt pathway dysregulation is implicated in human diseases such as diabetes, cancer, neuronal diseases and cardiovascular disease.

To measure AKT activity in live cells, we employ a fluorescent protein fused to a nuclear export signal (NES) and a nuclear localization signal (NLS) and a specific target sequence for Akt. When Akt phosphorylates this target sequence, the NLS is blocked and the fluorescent protein accumulates in the cytoplasm. The activity is measured by the ratio of cytoplasm to nuclear fluorescence intensity in each individual cell.