The Pten Family

The PTEN protein is a phosphatase that plays important roles as a tumor suppressor by negatively regulating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway that controls cell proliferation and survival. Impaired PTEN function leads to unrestrained downstream signaling and, in turn, uncontrolled cell growth and cancer. PTEN also has other roles: Recent work has implicated it in a variety of additional biological processes, including control of DNA replication and repair, and in disparate pathological conditi...