The human insulin receptor is a transmembrane glycoprotein, whose cytoplasmic domain contains an insulin-activated protein tyrosine kinase (PTK). Insulin signaling is initiated by binding of insulin to the extracellular α-subunit of insulin receptor, resulting in the stimulation of β-subunit, which contains intrinsic receptor tyrosine kinase activity, autophosphorylation of the receptor at multiple tyrosine residues. Autophosphorylation of the receptor enhances the intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity and evokes a series of phosphorylation events. These include tyrosyl phosphorylation of intracellular substrates named insulin receptor substrates (IRS 1 to 4), phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K), and protein kinase B (PKB). The phosphorylated proteins mediate the cellular actions of insulin. On the other hand, the glucose uptake stimulated by insulin in muscle and adipocytes is through the translocation of glucose transporters 4 (GLUT4) from intracellular pools to the plasma membrane. The translocation of GLUT4 to plasma membrane was established to be mediated by PI3K, based on the use of pharmacological inhibitors and expression of a dominant negative mutant or constitutively active form of PI3K.