Akt and PTEN: New diagnostic markers of non-small cell lung cancer?

We are particularly interested in testing the principles of cell proliferation and apoptosis in the microenvironment of human lung cancers with respect to the cell survival protein Akt (1) and PTEN (2). Akt is a cytosolic protein which promotes cell survival by phosphorylative inactivation of targets in apoptotic pathways. Akt has been found to play a role in the survival of experimental cancer cell lines in breast, prostate, ovary, lung and brain tissue. PTEN is a tumor suppressor gene whose protein product is expressed in inverse proportion to phosphorylated Akt in endometrial and breast cancer cell lines. No studies of the diagnostic significance of Akt and PTEN in human lung cancers have been reported.