PTEN and thyroid gland carcinoma: In line with the antagonizing effect of PTEN on AKT activation, nuclear AKT has been shown to protect cells against apoptosis (Lee et al., 2008, Rubio et al., 2009), whereas nuclear PTEN promotes cell apoptosis and decreased nuclear PTEN has been correlated with progressing thyroid carcinoma and melanoma (Brenner et al., 2002, Chang et al., 2008, Depowski et al., 2001, Whiteman et al., 2002).