Akt signaling and its role in postnatal neovascularization

Postnatal neovascularization has been known to be involved in not only angiogenesis but also vasculogenesis. Several lines of evidence suggest a link between neovascularization and Akt, a family member of serine/threonine protein kinases. Akt phosphorylates endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) and thereby enhances endothelial NO synthesis and influences postnatal vessel growth. Akt signaling is activated by a variety of stimuli in endothelial cells and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). Activation of the Akt kinase orchestrates a number of signaling pathways potentially involved in angiogenesis. Dominant negative Akt overexpression leads to functional blocking of EPC bioactivity. Because neovascularization is implicated in the pathophysiology of a number of diseases and is becoming an important therapeutic strategy for those diseases, further dissection of the Akt pathway and elucidation of the downstream effector molecules will lead to a better understanding of postnatal neovascularization and may provide avenues for the development of novel therapeutic interventions. In this review, molecular mechanisms of Akt signal pathway will be discussed with special emphasis on its role in neovascularization.