Background:
PI3-Kinases (PI3-Ks) are a family of lipid kinases that are implicated in signal transduction. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase is composed of an 85 kDa regulatory subunit and a 110 kDa catalytic subunit. The p85 subunit localize PI3-K activity to the plasma membrane while the p110 subunit contains the catalytic domain of PI3-K which uses ATP to phosphorylate PtdIns, PtdIns4P and PtdInsP2. Four isoforms of p110 has been found; alpha, beta, gamma, and the delta subunit. The alpha isoform, also known as PI3KCA, is a transforming oncogene that was shown to have activating mutations in nine types of cancers such as colon, brain, breast and stomach.