Benign thyroid nodule therefore is distinct from cancer precursor lesions, such as melanocytic nevi which harbour recurrent BRAF mutation14 or benign lesions with risk of malignant transformation, such as usual ductal hyperplasia of the breast, which harbour mutations of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/AKT/mTOR axis15. Here, AKT1 is linked to cancer.