Background: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the use of phospho-Akt in mouse and human skin as a surrogate target for tumor phospho-Akt to measure the effect of antitumor inhibitors of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI-3-K)/Akt (protein kinase B) signaling.
Method: The expression of phosphoSer473-Akt was quantitatively assessed by Western blotting in human HT-29 colon, MCF-7 breast, A-549 non small cell lung tumor xenografts in mice, and by immunohistochemistry in mouse skin and human hair.
Results: The pattern of PI-3-K isoforms in human hair keratinocytes was similar to that in tumor but mouse hair keratinocytes showed a different pattern. A high level of phospho-Akt staining was present in keratinocytes of the external root sheath of the hair and was inhibited by the PI-3-K inhibitor PX-866 administered to mice, and in human hair exposed to PX-866 in culture. The inhibition of phospho-Akt by PX-866 in mouse hair keratinocytes was greater than inhibition of phospho-Akt in HT-29 and A-549 xenografts in the same mice. Phospho-Akt in mouse hair keratinocytes was inhibited by the Akt inhibitor PX-316 to a lesser degree than in MCF-7 tumor xenografts.
Conclusions: Hair offers a way of measuring the effects of PI-3-K signaling inhibitors and, in cancer patients, may provide a readily obtainable surrogate tissue for assessing PI-3-K and phospho-Akt inhibition in tumor.