Supporting these observations was the involvement of activation of PI3K/AKT pathway in TGF-β1-induced Cx43 expression.42 Besides, activation of PI3K/AKT pathway by shear stress led to increased nuclear accumulation of β-catenin, which could bind to the Cx43 promoter and stimulate Cx43 expression.43 Therefore, our results demonstrate that there exists a positive feedback regulation between Cx26 expression and PI3K/Akt pathway in NSCLC cells. The gene discussed is TGFB1; the disease is non-small cell lung carcinoma.