Following a recent research presentation on Akt, I was asked what Akt stands for....a question to which I had no solid reply...so, here it is...
After an extensive literature search, it turns out the origins of Akt date back to 1928, where J. Furth performed experimental studies on mice that developed spontaneous thymic lymphomas. Mice from three different stocks designated A, R, and S were studied. Stock A was noted to yield many cancers, and inbred families were subsequently designated by a second small letter....Aa, Ab, Ac...thus the Ak strain of mice. Further inbreeding was undertaken with Ak mice at the Rockefeller Institute in 1936, leading to the designation of the AKR mouse strain. In 1977, a transforming retrovirus was isolated from the AKR mouse. This virus was named Akt-8, the "t" representing its transforming capabilities. Ten years later the proviral DNA was cloned and the viral oncogene, v-akt, was discovered. Human homologues Akt1 and Akt2 were later discovered, with gene amplification noted in a human gastric cancer. Akt is now known to regulate many normal cellular functions, and loss of regulatory control has been implicated in many human cancers.
