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Correlation between Loss of PTEN Expression and Akt Phosphorylation in Endometrial Carcinoma

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tottori University School of Medicine, Yonago 683-8504, Japan

The tumor suppressor PTEN acts as a lipid phosphatase, regulates the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt-signaling pathway, and modulates cell cycle progression and cell survival. Somatic mutations of PTEN have been reported in a variety of cancers, especially in endometrial carcinoma. To clarify whether and how PTEN and the PI3K/Akt pathway relates to endometrial carcinoma, we examined the expression of those pathway-related proteins in patients with endometrial carcinoma. Of 103 endometrial carcinomas, 37 (36%) showed negative immunohistochemical staining of PTEN. Western blotting revealed that the expression of PTEN in PTEN-negative cases was significantly lower compared with that in positive cases. In contrast, phospho-Akt level in negative cases was significantly higher. We found a significant inverse correlation between PTEN and phospho-Akt (r = -0.796). The expression of phospho-Bad was greater in negative cases, suggesting that Bad might be a target for Akt. The present study demonstrates the phosphorylation of Akt accompanied by the loss of PTEN in clinical specimens of endometrial carcinomas.

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