Abstract 4611: Interrogation of PI3K signaling via multiplex detection of differential phosphorylation of specific Akt isoforms

The serine/threonine protein kinase Akt is a key node in the PI3K pathway, one of the primary signaling cascades hyperactivated in human cancer. Emerging evidence demonstrates that the three Akt isoforms (Akt1, Akt2, and Akt3) may have unique, isoform-specific roles in key cellular processes such as differentiation and proliferation. We have developed 2-plex assays for each of the Akt isoforms in order to measure the relative levels of phospho- and total Akt1, Akt2, and Akt3. Differential regulation of Akt isoforms was characterized in multiple human cancer cell lines, including SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells and MCF-7 breast cancer cells. SH-SY5Y cells were used to study Akt phosphorylation in the context of differentiation. Briefly, SH-SY5Y cells were treated with retinoic acid (RA) for 3 days to induce neuronal differentiation before cells were collected, lysed, and evaluated by Luminex assay. RA-induced differentiation of SH-SY5Y cells stimulated phosphorylation of all three Akt isoforms, with Akt2 displaying the greatest induction. Multi-pathway analysis demonstrated co-induction of phospho-JNK in the RA-treated SH-SY5Y cells, consistent with the role of JNK in RA-mediated differentiation. To study differential regulation of the Akt isoforms in response to growth-stimulatory and growth-inhibitory signals, we used MCF-7 cells. In contrast to SH-SY5Y cells which express all three isoforms, MCF-7 cells only expressed Akt1 and Akt2. Serum-starved MCF-7 cells were cultured in the presence or absence of the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 prior to stimulation with insulin growth factor (IGF). Akt1 showed a greater induction of phosphorylation in response to IGF relative to Akt2. Similarly, whereas LY294002 pre-treatment reduced phospho-Akt1 to baseline levels, it only partially inhibited the IGF-dependent induction of phospho-Akt2. This suggests that Akt1 may be more sensitive to PI3K inhibition than Akt2 in certain human breast cancer cells. Collectively, our results demonstrate that Akt1, Akt2, and Akt3 are differentially regulated in human cancer cells at both the level of phosphorylation and of total protein expression. Citation Format: Anthony J. Saporita, Melissa Schluter, Debra MacIvor, Jehangir Mistry, Joseph Hwang. Interrogation of PI3K signaling via multiplex detection of differential phosphorylation of specific Akt isoforms. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans,