We also examined changes in downstream signaling pathways of VEGF by measuring levels of activated p-Akt and p-Erk, and found that Ad.VEGF-DΔNΔC infection resulted in a significant increase in the active forms of Akt and Erk compared to Ad.LacZ infection (Figure 13), similar to the effects of short-term adenoviral transduction in vivo. Here, AKT1 is linked to infection.