AKT1 and inflammatory bowel disease: Since NKX2-3 can affect the endothelin-1 and VEGF-PI3K/AKT-eNOS pathways (Fig. 2B and C) in HIMEC, we examined mRNA expression levels of the 6 genes in diseased and adjacent normal intestinal tissues from IBD patients to study clinical implication of NKX2-3 and its regulated genes.