Emerging role of PI3K/AKT in tumor-related epigenetic regulation

Epigenetic alterations, along with genetic alterations, have long been regarded as the most important mechanism participating in carcinogenesis. DNA methylation, histone modifications, and RNA-mediated regulation are involved in many cellular processes that are essential to cancer initiation and progression. A plethora of chromatin-associated proteins and modifying proteins take control of these processes and they are under the modulation of signaling pathways. The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT pathway (PI3K/AKT) is in manage of multiple biological processes and is frequently aberrantly activated in human cancers. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that critical epigenetic modifiers are directly or indirectly modulated by PI3K/AKT signaling, and participate in oncogenicity of PI3K cascade in cancers. In this review, we revisit the mechanism of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway modulating epigenetic reprogramming in cancer and attempt to establish the connection between PI3K/AKT cascade and the epigenome.