Requirement for Activation of the Serine-Threonine Kinase Akt (Protein Kinase B) in Insulin Stimulation of Protein Synthesis but Not of Glucose Transport

A wide variety of biological activities including the major metabolic actions of insulin is regulated by phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase. However, the downstream effectors of the various signaling pathways that emanate from PI 3-kinase remain unclear. Akt (protein kinase B), a serine-threonine kinase with a pleckstrin homology domain, is thought to be one such downstream effector. A mutant Akt (Akt-AA) in which the phosphorylation sites (Thr(308) and Ser(473)) targeted by growth factors are replaced by alanine has now been shown to lack protein kinase activity and, when overexpressed in CHO cells or 3T3-L1 adipocytes with the use of an adenovirus vector, to inhibit insulin-induced activation of endogenous Akt. Akt-AA thus acts in a dominant negative manner in intact cells. Insulin-stimulated protein synthesis, which is sensitive to wortmannin, a pharmacological inhibitor of PI 3-kinase, was abolished by overexpression of Akt-AA without an effect on amino acid transport into the cells, suggesting that Akt is required for insulin-stimulated protein synthesis. Insulin activation of p70 S6 kinase was inhibited by ∼75% in CHO cells and ∼30% in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, whereas insulin-induced activation of endogenous Akt was inhibited by 80 to 95%, by expression of Akt-AA. Thus, Akt activity appears to be required, at least in part, for insulin stimulation of p70 S6 kinase. However, insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in both CHO cells and 3T3-L1 adipocytes was not affected by overexpression of Akt-AA, suggesting that Akt is not required for this effect of insulin. These data indicate that Akt acts as a downstream effector in some, but not all, of the signaling pathways downstream of PI 3-kinase.