INS and preeclampsia: After phosphorylation, PI3K triggers phosphorylation of Akt/PKB at serine (ser473) and threonine (thr308) sites.29 Phosphorylated Akt/PKB translocates to the cytoplasm or to the nucleus, where it activates substrates with different actions on metabolism, growth and cell survival.13 Scioscia et al. showed that there was a decrease in tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS1, in insulin-stimulated preparations of human placenta from preeclampsia patients, compared with normal placenta, thus demonstrating that there is a lower level of insulin signaling in women with preeclampsia.9