AKT1 and thymoma: Serine threonine kinase Akt, also called Protein kinase B, was originally identified from the AKT8 acute transforming retrovirus that causes mouse thymoma.1 Genetic and functional alterations of the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase-Akt signaling pathways underlie the pathogenesis of a wide variety of human diseases, such as neoplastic diseases, glucose intolerance, viral infection and autoimmune diseases.