AKT1 and cardiac hypertrophy: Among others, three major signal transduction pathways have been shown to be involved in the pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy and “remodeling”: (1) the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) with the extracellular signal-related kinases (Erks), c-jun N-terminal protein kinases (JNKs) and p38 MAPK subfamilies [102]; (2) the Ca2+/Calmodulin activated protein kinase (CaM kinase) and phosphatase (calcineurin) [103], and (3) the protein kinase B/Akt and its downstream target glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) [104].