Involvement of the Androgen and Glucocorticoid Receptors in Bladder Cancer

Figure 3

Pathway in males that leads to growth factor activation of PI3K/AKT of AR and GRβ induced growth. Growth factors (e.g., insulin, epidermal growth factor) bind to receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) increasing phosphorylation and activation of insulin receptor substrate (IRS), resulting in the induction of the PI3Kinase growth pathway. PTEN is a tumor suppressor gene that inhibits PI3K. The PI3K increases activity of AKT resulting in enhanced AR signaling and growth. Proinflammatory mediators increase expression of GRβ, which has been shown to inhibit the tumor suppressor gene, PTEN [122], which leads to enhanced AR induced growth [56].