Cancer Genetics Program, Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, New Research Building, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Since its discovery as the elusive tumor suppressor gene at the frequently mutated 10q23 locus, PTEN has been identified as lost or mutated in several sporadic and heritable tumor types. A decade of work has established that PTEN is a nonredundant phosphatase that is essential for regulating the highly oncogenic prosurvival PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. This review discusses emerging modes of PTEN function and regulation, and speculates about how manipulation of PTEN function could be used for cancer therapy.