SPINK1 and malignant colon neoplasm: Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K/AKT) and mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MAPK/ERK) signaling pathways are known to drive cell proliferation, survival and invasion.30, 31 Hence, to further elucidate the role of SPINK1 in colon cancer cell proliferation and invasion, we performed immunoblotting for pMEK (phosphorylated MAPKs), pERK (phosphorylated ERK) and pAKT (phosphorylated AKT) in stable SPINK1 knockdown WiDr cells.