PTEN and nasopharyngeal carcinoma: PTEN negatively regulates the intracellular level of PIP3, functions as a tumor suppressor by negatively regulating the AKT signaling pathway, and is involved in the regulation of growth and apoptosis in various cancers.37, 38 Additionally, we have previously demonstrated that miR-141 could directly target PTEN and downregulate PTEN protein levels in NPC cells.30, 39 In this study, the overexpression of BRD7 in either 5-8F or HNE1 cells led to an increase in the protein level of PTEN and a decrease in the protein level of p-AKT (Figure 7a).