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Updated: May 30, 2026

Live-Cell Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Imaging of Metabolically Regulated Akt Activation Dynamics in HepG2 Cells
Published on: May 23, 2025
Systems biology of the metabolic network regulated by the Akt pathway
Ettore Mosca1, Matteo Barcella, Roberta Alfieri
1Institute for Biomedical Technologies, CNR, Segrate, Italy. ettore.mosca@itb.cnr.it
Abstract:
Cancer has been proposed as an example of systems biology disease or network disease. Accordingly, tumor cells differ from their normal counterparts more in terms of intracellular network dynamics than single markers. Here we shall focus on a recently recognized hallmark of cancer, the deregulation of cellular energetics. The constitutive activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway has been confirmed as an essential step toward cell transformation. We will consider how the effects of Akt activation are connected with cell metabolism; more precisely, we will review existing metabolic models and discuss the current knowledge available to construct a kinetic model of the most relevant metabolic processes regulated by the PI3K/Akt pathway. The model will enable a systems biology approach to predict the metabolic targets that may inhibit cell growth under hyper activation of Akt.
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