MTOR and hepatocellular carcinoma: COX-2 overexpression has been reported to enhance the expression of key oncogenic genes (HB-EGF, Krt23, Pak1, and TNFRSF12A) and signaling cascades (AKT, STK33, and MTOR pathway), which contribute to the initiation and progression of HCC formation (Chen et al., 2017).