Protein Kinase B Beta (PKBb)

AKT2 is a putative oncogene encoding a protein belonging to a subfamily of serine/threonine kinases containing SH2-like (Src homology 2-like) domains. The gene was shown to be amplified and overexpressed in 2 of 8 ovarian carcinoma cell lines and 2 of 15 primary ovarian tumors. Overexpression contributes to the malignant phenotype of a subset of human ductal pancreatic cancers. The encoded protein is a general protein kinase capable of phosphorylating several known proteins. Mice lacking Akt2 have a normal body mass, but display a profound diabetic phenotype, indicating that Akt2 plays a key role in signal transduction downstream of the insulin receptor. Mice lacking Akt2 show worse outcome in breast cancer initaited by the large T antigen as well as the neu oncogene.