By studying primary isogenic murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), we have shown that PLK3 null MEFs contain a reduced level of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and increased Akt1 activation coupled with decreased GSK3 activation under normoxia and hypoxia. Purified recombinant Plk3, but not a kinase-defective mutant, efficiently phosphorylates PTEN in vitro. Mass spectrometry identifies threonine 366 and serine 370 as two putative residues that are phosphorylated by Plk3. Immunoblotting using a phosphospecific antibody confirms these sites as Plk3 phosphorylation sites. Moreover, treatment of MEFs with LiCl, an inhibitor of GSK3 and CK2, only partially suppresses the phosphorylation, suggesting Plk3 as an additional kinase that phosphorylates these sites in vivo. Plk3-targeting mutants of PTEN are expressed at a reduced level in comparison with the wild-type counterpart, which is associated with an enhanced activity of PDK1, an upstream activator of Akt1. Furthermore, the reduced level of PTEN in PLK3 null MEFs is stabilized by treatment with MG132, a proteosome inhibitor. Combined, our study identifies Plk3 as a new player in the regulation of the PI3K/PDK1/ Akt signaling axis by phosphorylation and stabilization of PTEN.Plk3, a member of the Polo-like kinase family, plays an important role in regulating cell cycle checkpoint control in response to genotoxic stresses (1, 2), as well as in cellular responses to hypoxia (3, 4). Plk3 is also strongly implicated in tumorigenesis. Aberrant expression of Plk3 is found in multiple tumors (5, 6). The human PLK3 gene is localized to the short arm of the chromosome 1 (1p32), a region that displays loss of heterozygosity or homozygous deletions in many types of cancer and has been proposed to harbor tumor susceptibility genes (7,8). A recent mouse genetic study showed that PLK3 Ϫ/Ϫ mice develop tumors in multiple organs at an enhanced rate (4). Many of the tumors developed in the PLK3 null mice are large in size and are highly vascularized (4), suggesting that this kinase may be involved in regulating the angiogenesis pathway.The PTEN 3 tumor suppressor is frequently mutated in cancer cells, and inherited PTEN mutations cause cancer-susceptibility conditions, including Cowden syndrome (9 -13). The PTEN level, as well as its activity, profoundly influences tumor susceptibility because haplo-insufficiency of PTEN results in tumor development in many organs in animal models (14, 15). Biochemically, PTEN dephosphorylates the lipid second messenger phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate to generate phosphatidylinositol 3,4-bisphosphate and, by doing so, antagonizes the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Therefore, the PTEN tumor suppressor is a central negative regulator of the PI3K/PDK1/Akt signaling axis that controls multiple cellular functions, including cell growth, survival, proliferation, and angiogenesis (16). PTEN is also involved in regulating hypoxic responses and HIF-1␣ stability (17, 18). Loss of PTEN function and increased activities of PI3K/Akt are associated ...