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The role of PI3K in immune cells

Nature Immunology volume 4, pages 313–319 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Members of the phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K) family control several cellular responses including cell growth, survival, cytoskeletal remodeling and the trafficking of intracellular organelles in many different types of cell. In particular PI3K has important functions in the immune system. It has been difficult to evaluate the roles of distinct PI3Ks in cellular immune responses because no PI3K inhibitors are specific for individual family members and because most stimuli activate several PI3K enzymes. The development of gene-targeted mice now enables us to examine the physiological functions of individual PI3K enzymes in the immune system in vivo.

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Figure 1: Metabolism and immune system functions of phosphoinositides.
Figure 2: Structural characteristics of the PI3K family.
Figure 3: Signal transduction pathways involving PI3Ks in immune cells.

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Acknowledgements

I thank T. Kadowaki, Y. Terauchi and many other colleagues for fruitful collaborations, and K. Takatsu, T. Kurosaki, L.K. Clayton and members of my laboratory for valuable discussions. Supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Creative Scientific Research (13GS0015) and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research B (14370116) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas C (13226112, 14021110), a National Grant-in-Aid for the Establishment of a High-Tech Research Center in a private University, a grant for the Promotion of the Advancement of Education and Research in Graduate Schools, and a Scientific Frontier Research Grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.

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  1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan

    Shigeo Koyasu

  2. Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Kawaguchi, 332-0012, Japan

    Shigeo Koyasu

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Koyasu, S. The role of PI3K in immune cells. Nat Immunol 4, 313–319 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni0403-313

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