Univariate Kaplan–Meier estimates demonstrated that age (χ2= 5.963; P=0.015), pathological pattern (χ2=4.823; P=0.028), clinical stages (χ2=9.470; P=0.002), IPI scores (χ2=7.645; P=0.006), chemotherapy regimens (χ2=5.825; P=0.016), PD-L1 expression (χ2=8.945; P=0.003), p-AKT expression (χ2=9.246; P=0.002), co-expression of PD-L1 and p-AKT (χ2=13.992; P<0.001) were associated with poor prognosis in DLBCL patients. Here, AKT1 is linked to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.