European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

The PI3K/Akt pathway, which is abnormally activated in the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) malignancies and essential for many cellular functions, promotes the growth and development of tumours. It may be possible to fully understand the role of this pathway by looking at its upstream and downstream nodes. The development of new cancer drugs may benefit from techniques that target the pathway's primary constituents in light of mounting evidence.
Therefore, approaches combining pathway inhibitors and additional cancer therapies may be able to address the therapeutic conundrum. In this review, we cover the functions of the PI3K/Akt pathway in different cancer phenotypes, a status report on several PI3K/Akt inhibitors, and an introduction to combination therapies that combine signalling inhibitors with traditional cancer treatments. The evidence presented here demonstrates that the most successful approach to treating cancer involves cascade inhibitors of the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway, either alone or in conjunction with other medicines.