Featured Review Cellscience Reviews Vol 3 No 2 ISSN 1742-8130

PTEN: Beyond its role as a tumor suppressor

PTEN is a potent negative regulator of the PI3K signaling pathway, which is a major pathway that functions downstream of receptor tyrosine kinases. Although first discovered as a tumor suppressor, in vivo studies using tissue specific genetic targeting strategies have unveiled critical roles of PTEN in a vast array of physiological functions. While in endogenously proliferating tissues such as the endometrium and keratinocytes, PTEN appears to play a critical role as a tumor suppressor, PTEN also plays a critical role in maintaining differentiated functions of highly specialized cells, particularly in tissues that comprise of terminally differentiated post-mitotic cells. Furthermore, in these post-mitotic cells, PTEN appears also to play a role in cell size determination, in addition to its role in differentiation. Therefore, in addition to its role as a tumor suppressor, PTEN also plays a critical role in metabolism with respect to insulin and leptin signaling. Together, with advances in techniques that will allow for tissue-specific targeting, PTEN may be used for the treatment of a variety of human diseases in a potent manner for a fight against not only malignancies, but also against epidemic type 2 diabetes.

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