AKT1 and neoplasm: Besides, tumour-associated fibroblasts have been found to confer morphogenic and mitogenic induction of epithelial cells (Shekhar et al, 2001) and to induce acceleration of epithelial tumour growth in vivo (Camps et al, 1990) supporting the role of host cells as source of paracrine signals that may not only affect cell growth but also turn on survival pathways, like Akt.