AKT1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Furthermore, silencing sCLU gene transcription inhibited the colony formation and proliferation of HCC cells, with decreasing phosphorylation level of AKT and GSK-3β in HCCLM3 cells in vitro and significantly suppressed the HCC xenograft growth in vivo, suggesting that sCLU with oncogenicity should be not only an early indicator but also novel potential molecular-targeted therapy for HCC.