Serving as negative regulators of several oncogenic protein kinases, including Akt, S6K and RAF1, both PHLPP isoforms function as tumor suppressors by maintaining the balance of cell signaling and homeostasis.23–28 Previous studies have shown that loss of PHLPP expression occurs frequently in colon cancer patients26,29 and PHLPP loss promotes cell growth and survival in vitro and tumorigenesis in vivo. Here, AKT1 is linked to malignant colon neoplasm.