To confirm whether the inhibition of cancer cell metastasis by inotilone occurs through PI3K, ERK, JNK and/or p38 suppression, A549 cells were pretreated for 1 h with PI3K inhibitor (LY294002; 50 μM), ERK inhibitor (PD98059; 50 μM), JNK inhibitor (SP60025; 50 μM) or p38 inhibitor (SB203580; 50 μM) and then examined for the effects of inotilone treatment. The gene discussed is MAPK8; the disease is cancer.