Description
Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta) is a serine/threonine kinase that affects glycogen metabolism by phosphorylating and down-regulating the activity of muscle glycogen synthase. Growth factor (such as Insulin) binds to its receptor, recruits PKB/AKT kinase to phsphorylate GSK-3beta on Serine 9, which prevents GSK-3beta from phosphorylating glycogen synthase. In contrast, the phosphorylation of tyrosine 216 in the catalytic domain increase this kinase activity to promote cell death under the absence of growth factors. GSK-3beta is also involved in Wnt signaling pathway where it forms a complex with axin, beta-catenin and adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) protein, thus the GSK-3beta inhibitor is considered as a potential approach in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) treatment