Source
Department of Geriatric Research, National Institute for Longevity Sciences, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Morioka, Obu, Aichi, Japan.
Abstract
Mammalian forkhead members of the class O (FOXO) transcription factors, including FOXO1, FOXO3a, and FOXO4, are implicated in the regulation of a variety of cellular processes, including the cell cycle, apoptosis, DNA repair, stress resistance, and metabolism. FOXO proteins are negatively regulated by the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-Akt signaling pathway, which is activated by growth factors and cytokines. Recent studies indicate that the activities of FOXO proteins are also regulated by oxidative stress, which induces their phosphorylation, translocation to the nucleus, and acetylation-deacetylation. Similar to the tumor suppressor p53, FOXO is activated by stress and induces the expression of genes that contribute to cell-cycle arrest, suggesting that it also functions as a tumor suppressor.