Cardiac hypertrophy is a pathophysiological process involving multiple signal transduction pathways and transcription factors.25 It has been reported that cordycepin can activate AMPKα (a serine/threonine protein kinase) signalling.28, 29 AMPKα is an important sensor of cellular energy status, and that regulates this status in various pathophysiological processes.30 One of the key characteristics of cardiac hypertrophy is increased protein synthesis and decreased protein degradation in cardiomyocytes, which leads to intracellular protein accumulation. The gene discussed is AKT1; the disease is cardiac hypertrophy.