Treatment with rapamycin effectively ameliorated these pathological processes as well as improved liver function and portal pressure, implying that AKT/mTOR signaling pathway contributed to the early pathology of cirrhotic portal hypertension, consistent with the studies conducted by Reif on HSCs culture and by Neef on the established cirrhotic rat models [3], [6]. The gene discussed is MTOR; the disease is portal hypertension.