However, BART6-3p may exert growth-inducing properties and affect the immune response in EBV-positive Burkitt lymphoma through affecting the function of important signal transducers as NFκB and Akt/PI3K or by downregulating PTEN to remove the inhibitory brake on cell proliferation.21 Thus our data confirmed that different pathogenetic mechanisms may exist in EBV-associated epithelial malignant transformation and Burkitt's lymphomagenesis. Here, AKT1 is linked to Burkitt lymphoma.