POSTN and familial pancreatic carcinoma: The PI3-K/AKT pathway has been described in several reports to be the critical pathway involved in regulation of periostin-induced tumorigenesis and prevention of stressed-induced tumor cell apoptosis in both colon and pancreatic cancer [49], [51]; specifically, periostin can induce the phosphorylation of AKT by binding a6b4 integrins [49].